NOVEL NEXT Chapter 574
“Captain got murdered! Wasn’t the culprit?”
Of course, everyone thought he was the culprit. Elder Oh couldn’t hide his surprise as Officer Jung talked about the captain, found dead as a corpse, to the protagonist’s group.
It’s utterly unpredictable. The more I read into the unfolding events, the more my soul feels like it’s being sucked out. It’s more a spinning of the head than a pounding of the heart.
Elder Oh focused on the whimsical banter of the group as they headed to the scene, putting all his spirit into following the flow of the case.
——
[The body was found by a guy named Jeom Soi in a locked room.]
“In the best room on the 4th floor of the inn, the body was lying under a bloody blanket. A gaunt figure with sunken eyes. One of the symptoms of a patient with Cushing’s syndrome. Without needing to see the bottle of alcohol rolling next to the corpse’s right hand, it was clearly the ghost ship’s captain.”
[So it wasn’t the Ho Pil guys who found it.]
[Well, we’ve found the person we were looking for, so isn’t that basically it? They’ve kept the scene closed off, afraid a detective might show up.]
[Let me take a look.]
“The doctor is familiar with corpses but also doesn’t want to get too close. It was an acceptance of the unwanted results of failure. On the other hand, Jegal Seolrok examined the body with skilled craftsmanship, as if saying this was just the start of work, not failure.”
[Can you discern anything?]
[There’s an old wound on the left leg. A single blow caused permanent damage to the bone. So the limp was due to an acquired reason. The cause of death was a stab wound to the right chest. It seems he was stabbed and then twisted, killing him in one move.]
[He died in one blow?]
[Witnesses?]
“Jegal Seolrok, seemingly unwilling to respond to trivial answers, threw out the questions he needed.”
[Jeom Soi said a dawn visitor came to the inn asking for the best liquor and room. He kept asking for alcohol until the sun rose, but at some point when he stopped ordering, it seemed he fell asleep.]
[Who was the visitor?]
[He pressed multiple times, but there was no answer. The door was locked, after all.]
[It was locked. Indeed…]
“Jegal Seolrok stroked one side of his mouth. Did he realize something? I was also trying to focus and imitate his skills beside him, but the only thing I noticed was that Officer Jung’s right shoulder seemed uncomfortable.”
[Can you figure something out?]
[Jeom Soi has bad habits, so let’s avoid this inn as much as possible.]
[What do you mean by that?]
[I found several scratches near the keyhole. Why would Jeom Soi pick the lock on a guest’s room of the best room where someone was sleeping off a drunken stupor since morning?]
“Jegal Seolrok nonchalantly disclosed facts that even the patrons on hand or the innkeeper wouldn’t know.”
“Ha! What nonsense observation! Wait! No way, could it be Jeom Soi?!”
You absolutely can’t let your guard down in the Martial Arts World. One thing popped into Elder Oh’s mind. That scummy Jeom Soi sometimes targets guest’s money, drugging their drinks.
[Oh no! No way it’s Jeom Soi?! Ho Pil! Bring Jeom Soi here!]
[Jeom Soi isn’t the culprit.]
[He could have accidentally killed someone while trying to steal!]
[If Jeom Soi was sizing up the captain, then it’s a possibility.]
[What do you mean by that?]
“The innkeeper was still distracted, scolding the group that seemed oblivious, focusing their attention on the corpse.”
[Look at the table. There are two cups.]
[……!]
“Without even a moment to be surprised, Jegal Seolrok opened the window and surveyed both sides with caution.”
[Jeom Soi definitely said nobody entered! Not just Jeom Soi, there were multiple testimonies secured!]
“The culprit is Jeom Soi. Officer Jung, unwilling to give up such a simple solution, explained to the innkeeper.”
[The front door must have been tricky.]
[But we’re on the 4th floor!]
[The tiles on the window of the 2nd floor and the tiles on the window of the 3rd floor are broken. Someone has the ability to climb up to the 4th floor, but the skill of Light Body Movement isn’t that deep.]
[The culprit is a… a Martial Artist?]
[So who do you think could stab cleanly through the chest?]
[No way.]
[There’s gravy from the alcohol on the window. Looking at the knocking marks from the outside, surely they would have recognized who it was and let them in. The corpse was also lying with its back facing the window. So it means they were talking before the killing blow came.]
[If it were an intruder, the body would have been found on the floor, not on the bed or the table.]
“Jegal Seolrok seemed pleased whether it was because someone was agreeing with his opinions or because he was given a chance to express himself.”
[Exactly. The murderer and captain knew each other. But someone who didn’t use a knife was hiding a dagger in their chest. It seems they didn’t trust each other after all.]
[What the heck…]
“Even I, as an outsider, could see the case was getting more complicated, but what was the case officer feeling? Officer Jung’s face was growing darker.”
[There’s no need to have such a despairing look. Even the murderer encountered the unexpected.]
[What do you mean by that?]
[Until Jeom Soi picked the lock and entered, the murderer was already in this room.]
[What?!]
“After experiencing a shocking event since dawn, even I, who thought I wouldn’t be surprised by anything, was left dumbfounded.”
[The murderer got a bit of blood on their shoes while panicking. Thanks to that, I’ve got my first clue about the murderer. The murderer is 6 feet tall.]
“Jegal Seolrok pointed somewhere with a fan he seemed to have pulled from nowhere. Unless you recognized it, you wouldn’t have noticed the small trail of blood connecting dots.”
[Can you tell someone’s height by their strides?]
[Approximately. Plus, they were flustered and panicked when making a greasy hand contact on the window without a handle. People tend to move in the most convenient and quickest way when they’re in a hurry. You can estimate using strides and hand heights.]
[Indeed.]
“Does this school teach you such things too? I couldn’t hide my surprise at the limits of the innkeeper’s knowledge. However, Jegal Seolrok’s surprises weren’t over yet.”
[Their shoe size is larger than average. We should call them ‘big foot.’]
[Can you tell such things by steps?]
[Jeom Soi told me.]
[What?]
[They jumped off the 4th floor. When I looked inside the inn, I noticed a footprint that generally shouldn’t exist. Exactly where this window overlooks. They must have been in a hurry so they left it deep.]
“Even though it’s obviously the 4th floor, the footprints remained clearly visible on the ground below that Jegal Seolrok pointed to.”
[The, the constables down there should hurry and take a cast!]
[Investigate the pedestrians. There might be witnesses.]
[Ah, got it! Is there anything else you found?]
[There are some interesting traces, but it’s still not the right time to discuss them.]
[Is that so…]
“As soon as I entered, how did Jeom Soi find the corpse, what kind of relationship did the captain and the murderer have, and how did Jegal Seolrok figure out the murderer’s height and shoe size? We could only be overwhelmed by his every move.”
[Hmph. Showing off again.]
[Nak Ho Pil.]
“Of course, there were those who looked at him dismissively.”
[It’s not showing off, it’s being skilled. A result of consistent effort and a refined natural intuition.]
“Watching Jegal Seolrok demonstrate his abilities, it seemed even his confident presentation was inadequate to express himself, but he wasn’t a ‘low-value’ person.”
[Ha! Showing off and still failing, huh! If you’d been right, we could have caught the captain alive with the culprit!]
[What do you mean?]
[The inn was a spot where you could park a carriage. Didn’t you say you’d be staying? This inn has no spot to park a carriage!]
[No spot to park a carriage? Then where is the carriage?]
[I don’t know.]
[The captain didn’t come in a carriage after killing the people inside and stealing the cargo?]
“Jegal Seolrok’s eyes widened momentarily. Even I, who had been living under the same roof as the innkeeper for a month, was astonished to see such a surprised expression.”
[No, you’re kidding!]
[That cannot be. The captain surely…]
“Nak Ho Pil was pleased to have struck a chord, but Jegal Seolrok didn’t care about that as he dashed out of the room immediately.”
[Detective?]
[Made a mistake. I keep making mistakes. Why?]
[The errors you made…]
[Hahaha! Yes! That’s it!]
“What could possibly be going on? A laugh echoing almost madly spread through the inn’s staircase.”
[Wh-what do you mean?]
[If the plan lacks humanity, it’s not entertaining. Everything was unexpected. Great! I’ve seen it all. Time to go.]
“The innkeeper seemed like he didn’t want to waste a moment more for answers, sparkling with his eyes as he stepped down the stairs.”
[Where are you going?!]
[Doctor, check the corpse! Bring me what the useless one investigated! I have no time to waste, I must go!]
[…….]
“Nobody among us could stop Jegal Seolrok from vanishing. I couldn’t hide my bewilderment, looking blankly at Officer Jung, who was staring in the direction the innkeeper had disappeared.”
[Does he do this often?]
[Doesn’t he seem like a freak?]
——
“After examining the corpse as a doctor, one definitive problem dawned upon me. A critical issue, so I cautiously approached Officer Jung.”
[Officer Jung, I’ve noticed something a bit strange.]
[Do you have the talent for deduction too?]
[Not deduction, diagnosis. Upon closer inspection, it seems you have an issue with your right shoulder.]
[Right! It’s been stiff and not healing properly lately!]
“The gaze filled with amazement at finding the problem and hope for solving it. A gratifying look from a doctor.”
[If left untreated, you might not be able to straighten your shoulder.]
[Really?!]
[Come see me when you find the time. I will treat you right away.]
[Is that true! Thank you!]
[But there’s a catch.]
[Huh?]
[It takes too long to get from here to the mansion. How about you let me have the carriage fare on credit first?]
[…….]
“I never thought I would receive my first guest from Wuhan like this. I truly couldn’t lift my head.”