Hardboiled Scenario

Chapter 11

 

“So, in the end, it was death by suffocation due to airway obstruction?”

“Precisely, it was death due to a vasovagal reflex.”

“What is that?”

“When food gets stuck in the throat, it not only causes respiratory distress but also stimulates the mucous membranes in the laryngopharynx or oropharynx, causing an overload on the parasympathetic nervous system. As a result, the heart reflexively stops.”

“What was the food that obstructed her airway?”

A gang rape or orgy at a drug party. The death of a woman at the end of such debauchery.

“Grape skins and semen.”

Inferring why grape skins and semen were found in her airway, the most likely scenario flashed through his mind.

Muyoung’s face contorted, and Jae-in delivered the facts with an icy demeanor.

“Semen was also detected in her esophagus and stomach.”

The revolting answer went beyond disgust, leaving him somewhat flustered.

“Ah, shit……”

Looking momentarily dazed and at a loss for words, Muyoung then let out a bitter laugh bordering on enlightenment.

“Is this a common occurrence?”

Jae-in pondered briefly before shaking her head.

“No. It’s a rare case.”

It could happen in real life, but she had never seen someone die from it before.

“What is your opinion as a forensic examiner?”

Jae-in carefully considered the autopsy results.

Apart from the anal lacerations, no signs of forced entry were found in her genital areas.

The bruises on her arms and legs were not from being struck. The abrasions around her neck were slightly suspicious, but not from restraints like ropes either.

“Unfortunately, based solely on the facts revealed through the autopsy, it’s not clear-cut.”

The forensic pathologist’s opinion is not clear, but the prosecutor’s view on this case is that it is rape. Since the victim died, it is rape manslaughter¹A crime established when a person dies as a result of rape or related acts without the initial intent..

The drug use and sexual acts may have been consensual. But were those deviant acts far exceeding common decency really consensual too?

“However…”

Jae-in spoke cautiously.

“In her diminished mental state from the drugs, Park So-ra-ssi likely had no idea what was happening to her.”

The victim is dead. As a forensic examiner, she cannot give a definitive answer. But as a fellow woman, she wanted to speak out.

“This is just my personal opinion, and I’m not sure about the legal interpretation.”

She wasn’t sure if it was appropriate to convey this, but Jae-in’s view was that excessively obscene sexual acts were no different from rape.

Rising from his chair, Muyoung approached Jae-in and lightly gripped her shoulder before letting go.

“Thank you. It gave me certainty about who to take down and how.”

Putting aside his previously cocky demeanor, he grinned broadly.

“When are you free?”

“Free for what?”

“I said I came to ask things and to talk, remember?”

Jae-in’s round eyes showed puzzlement, as if the time he had taken so far should have been enough.

“That was for the questions I wanted to ask. Now it’s for what I want to say.”

He had alternated between self-mockery and chuckled numerous times whenever the fantasy inevitably resurfaced if he zoned out for a moment.

Before finding her name in the autopsy report, he wondered what was so special about this woman to make him act this way.

And the certainty he now felt was not limited to just this case.

With an utterly cold expression, she bluntly speaks words too honest, all while subtly gauging the other person’s feelings on the subject.

“Let’s have a meal. And tea too.”

Audacious yet timid. Just like a hedgehog forced to raise its quills defensively against outside attacks. Up to this point, it was an objective assessment.

“And sex too, if you want.”

“I thought we already settled that previously?”

“Did we?”

“Yes, we agreed not to cross that line.”

“I felt that decision was quite one-sided that day.”

And from now on, it becomes an entirely subjective judgment.

That clumsy dissonance strongly piqued Muyoung’s interest.

I like this woman. I don’t want to let her go now. I want to get to know her better.

“You said you don’t dislike me, Jae-in-ssi, and I like you for that.”

He genuinely wondered how alluring her true self hidden beneath those sharp quills could be. To find out, first….

“So I’m going to intrude past the line you’ve drawn.”

With his self-assured smile, Muyoung’s face was handsome enough to captivate anyone.

Judging from his serious demeanor when listening to the autopsy findings, he seemed to clearly separate work and personal matters.

When it was work-related, Jae-in just had to treat him professionally, which was easy. However, when he suddenly approached her personally like this, her habitual sense of rejection surfaced first.

How charming of a man he was wasn’t the issue.

It was simply that Jae-in didn’t know how to handle someone’s interest—romantic interest, to be precise—for the first time in her life.

The mouth that moved smoothly when discussing work now froze up again.

Her mind warned that she should reject him outright like at the hotel before. But the words crumbled, failing to form any coherent response.

Without Jae-in realizing, Muyoung had somehow closed the distance between them.

“If you don’t want someone prying in, don’t show any openings.”

The man who disregarded personal space nonchalantly trampled over the boundary line Jae-in had painstakingly drawn.

Again. Again, her sense of smell reacted before her sight.

A refreshing scent reminiscent of a cool breeze. A fragrance that suited a man very well.

The sense of smell triggers a kind of awakening. Once registered, it naturally captures one’s consciousness. Whenever a similar scent is detected, it subconsciously evokes associations with that fragrance.

From now on, whenever she caught this scent, Seo Muyoung would definitely be the first person she thought of above all else.

“But I don’t have any intention of doing anything untoward here, so don’t be so tense.”

As if about to kiss her, he leaned his towering frame close to her face, then slid his body back and glanced around the room.

“More importantly, I’ve been hearing knocking sounds. Should we not open the door?”

Knocking? What knocking?

“Ah! Um, ah, what time is it now?”

Snapping back to her senses, Jae-in fumbled around, searching for her phone.

Her gown, pants, then gown again. After finally locating her phone in her gown, just as she was about to check the time, Muyoung snatched it from her hands.

“What are you doing? Give it here.”

“Rather than waste time on that, you should open the door first. The person knocking might sprain their wrist.”

He seemed to know who the visitor was, and it did make sense to open the door first instead of bickering over her phone. But having her phone held hostage still felt uneasy as she turned away.

However, he didn’t look like he would return it easily.

“Haah……”

In the end, Jae-in decided to open the door first as he wanted. She had learned firsthand that giving up quickly is better for one’s mental health when it was futile to resist.

Meanwhile, Muyoung entered his number into Jae-in’s phone and called it. As soon as the signal connected, his phone in his jacket pocket vibrated.

After ending the call, he swiftly entered ‘Seo Muyoung ♥’ as the new contact name and saved it.

“Answer when I call.”

He was about to return her phone with a satisfied smile when he looked up to see someone other than Jae-in standing there.

“Prosecutor Seo Muyoung?”

The person seemed to recognize him, and Muyoung recognized him too.

“What brings you here, Prosecutor?”

It was Senior Police Detective Choi In-ho from the Metropolitan Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.

“I could ask you the same question, Detective Choi……”

“Well, for me it’s routine to come here like it’s my own home whenever a murder case comes up. I’m here to get an explanation before the evaluation report for the autopsy I requested this morning is out. By the way, it’s been a while, Prosecutor Seo.”

He abruptly extended his right hand towards Muyoung, requesting a handshake with an easy grin unbefitting of a police officer, more like a wealthy young master.

Despite his appearance, he was an officer from the police academy who had earned the trust and expectations of his world at a young age, thanks to his excellent track record.

Muyoung, already familiar with Choi In-ho’s reputation, firmly shook his hand.

“You played a big role in the last case, Detective Choi. I didn’t get to thank you then.”

“It’s just part of my job, nothing special.”

“But there are plenty who can’t even do that ‘nothing special’ part.”

“You’re right. No matter how hard we work day and night to catch the criminals, there are those bosses who just drop the charges entirely.”

They traded barbed remarks without backing down an inch.

“Still, with prosecutors like you around, Detective, it makes our job as officers feel rewarding.”

“I’ll have to work harder then, to give you officers a sense of fulfillment.”

🍓

Thank you for reading! ♡