Work Text:
Cheol Choi was solving a case as a junior detective in Manila he was sent there by her superiors from Cavite, his hometown, and his superiors assigned Jeonghan Yoon and Jihoon Lee as his team, they were all junior detectives. They solved the case together and decided to make their team a fixed team. And after they solved many cases together, the three of them became good friends.
One day they were assigned to solve a murder case, a man was killed and the killer left the body lying on the floor of his hotel room, no one saw the killer, the only evidence that they have was a kitchen knife that was placed beside the victim, but when they examined the knife it has no finger print at all. Days pass Cheol, Jeonghan and Jihoon were still solving the mysterious case that didn’t let them sleep for nights, the only thing that they know was that the victim was Akemi Karma a Japanese detective and he was also known to be the best detective in his country. They gather all information about the victim, they also contact his colleagues asking them about the cases that he solved before his tragic death and to send them files about him and the past cases that he handle. Thinking that maybe the killer was one of the criminals that Mr. Karma had caught before.
As they look at the files that were sent to them, there was a file that caught their attention. The case of a fifteen years old Japanese girl that had been raped and killed three years ago, but the name of the girl wasn’t mention on the file and the suspect was declared as not guilty. The suspect was an unnamed Japanese-Filipino detective. But the case was not on Mr. Karma’s work files it was on his personal files. After they read this case they immediately called their superiors but their superiors told them to just give up the case and let the Japanese authorities to handle it.
Cheol, Jeonghan and Jihoon continue investigating the case even though their superiors told them not to get involved on that case again. Because of their curiosity they keep on digging information about the case of the fifteen year old girl and who was the suspect behind it. After investigating the case for a few days, they found out that the deceased detective in the hotel and the detective that has been suspected was the same person, and they also found out that the detective came to the Philippines after he received a text message saying “a life for a life”. After knowing all those information the three of them went back to the hotel where Mr. Karma was killed, having in mind that the one who killed him was a person who has a strong connection with the fifteen year old girl that he raped and killed. Jihoon asked the admins of the hotel, if there was a Japanese national who checked in at the hotel one or two days before he was killed, the admins told them that no Japanese national checked in or out during the said duration of time. Cheol also asked them if someone came to visit the victim before the crime happened, they said that someone came but not to visit but to deliver something, Jeonghan ask them if they still remember the face of the man but they said that the man was wearing a mask and a hood when he came in and out of the hotel.
Knowing these details they believe that the delivery man was the one who killed the detective. They continue investigating on the case the following days but Jihoon was acting strange and suddenly decided not to join Cheol and Jeonghan anymore telling them that he was tired and wanted to rest. Even though Jihoon didn’t help them, Jeonghan and Cheol continue solving the case.
They gather all possible evidences and information that could possibly lead them to the killer. But all information and evidences lead them to one person, a person that they never suspected, they were very shocked and disappointed to what they discovered. The one who killed the detective at the hotel was Jihoon, Lee Jihoon, Jihoon was not like any other criminal that they caught, he was their colleague and he was a close friend of them, because of this, both of them feel betrayed. Still both of them decided not to report Jihoon, they decided to talk to him first and they wanted to know why Jihoon did that. Luckily Jihoon was still in the Philippines they visit him on the condo where he was staying. And asked him why did he kill the detective, he told them that the fifteen years old girl who has been raped and killed three years ago by Akemi Karma the detective was Seren, Lee Seren his younger sister and he also told them that he will never feel sorry for what he did cause he just did it to get the justice that his beloved younger sister deserve.
After talking to Jihoon, Cheol and Jeonghan made a very hard decision for them, they decided to end the case by telling the truth, they told their superiors about Jihoon and they file a murder case against him. When the warrant of arrest for Jihoon came they asked their superiors if they can personally bring the warrant to Steven, and their superiors let them do it. With the warrant in their hands Cheol and Jeonghan went to the Condo where Jihoon is staying, they ring the doorbell but no one was answering, but they were sure that Jihoon was inside cause they can hear that the television was on. After thirty minutes of waiting Cheol decided to open the door using his own skill. And when he finally open the door he saw the television on but Jihoon wasn’t there. Jeonghan decided to go straight to Jihoon’s room, when he enters the room, the first thing that he saw made him break into tears, Cheol heard the sudden sobbing of Jeonghan and he run to see what happened and when he enters the room he saw him crying looking at Jihoon lying on the floor and was bathing in his own blood, he was holding a knife that was buried in his chest and it looks like it was his own doing. Jihoon killed himself, Jihoon committed suicide. Jeonghan was very terrified and can’t even stand. Cheol called the ambulance and bring Jihoon to the hospital but when they arrived he was declared as dead on arrival. Both Cheol and Jeonghan mourned for Jihoon, even though he committed such a terrible crime, for both of them, Jihoon was a good man and most of all a good friend, that had made a big mistake because of his great love for his beloved younger sister.