The receptionist looked up slow, her face still lit from her phone screen. Her bored eyes blinked once, then again, at the pale shaking boy in front of her.
"Call… call one-one-two… call the police!" Min screamed. His voice cracked, spit flew out, his hands slammed the counter.
For a second she didn't move. She just blinked again, like her brain was stuck, like she didn't hear right. Her hand twitched, moved slow, her mouth opening like she was about to say something casual.
She saw his eyes wide, round like they were about to pop. His face was wet with his sweat. His whole body shaking, his fingers trembling on the desk so hard it made a tapping sound.
There was even vomit on his collar, dried and fresh mixed, smell still there.
Her hand slipped, the phone fell from her ear, dropped to the desk with a dull thud.
"What… what happened?" she said aloud, her voice louder than she meant, shaking.
Min's lips opened but his voice trembled, broken.
"D… dead…" he gasped, spit stuck in his throat. "They… all dead… fuckk… fuckk…"
He was panting, chest heaving, trying to drag air in. Breath wouldn't come right. Each word came out slowly, cut, with long gaps in between, like it was too hard and heavy to say.
Min told her everything in long gaps, he tried too hard, struggled to tell her, what he saw in the room and who was dead.
She grabbed the phone, her fingers slipping on the screen. Somehow she punched in 112.
Her voice broke on the call, words spilling out between sobs. "K… karaoke club… two boys… blood… they're dead… please hurry…"
The radio on the belt of one officer crackled.
—"Unit 45, report of two minors dead. Karaoke club, Hongdae area."
Another voice broke in, sharper, faster.
—"Names just confirmed. Victims: Seok Min-jun, Kim Jae-ho. Repeat, Seok Min-jun."
The officer's hand froze on the walkie. His eyes went wide. He looked at the others around him.
"Seok Min-jun?!"
"The DA's kid…" police officer muttered under their breath.
The radios kept spitting static, more codes, more units being ordered to the site. But no one was calm anymore. The name changed everything.
The SNTV van stopped hard in front of the karaoke club, the tires screeching loud on the road.
The back door opened before the van even fully stopped. Han Eun-ji jumped out, mic in her hand, cameraman was running behind her.
She didn't wait. She was in rush as she was the first reporter to arrived on the scene. Even before the police could.
"Move, move!" she shouted, pushing past the small crowd already whispering outside the club.
The receptionist at the front tried to say something, but Han only showed her press badge quick and went straight in.
She reached the door, it was already opened.
Cameraman quickly lifted his camera and started to take pictures. Flash after flash filled the room.
Two bodies of Seok and Kim were lying there on the floor, their bodies in same condition, twisted, their limbs bent in opposite direction. Their faces stuck, mouths half open like they were still trying to scream.
Han's lips curled. She didn't get scared seeing them. She felt excited.
In her head she knew, this was not some normal killing, not some gang fight between two schools. This was something bigger than some fight between student.
She already had clues before, from Kang and his friends murder. Her source from inside the police told her. And now she was looking with her own eyes, the same way they died.
Her eyes moved fast, she searched every part of their bodies. And then she saw what she wanted.
The marks of chains. Burned into their skin. On wrists, on legs. Like someone tied them with hot chains, forced on their flesh.
"Yes… yes… that's it…" Han said, her voice excited.
Her face didn't show any sadness for the dead. Instead it was bright, like she just caught the serial killer in her hands.
It didn't take long. Police car rushed in, sirens loud, red and blue lights flashing on the club wall.
Car doors slammed open. Two officers came out, their steps running faster inside the club.
"Hey! Who let reporters in here?" one yelled.
"Don't touch anything! Don't contaminate the scene!"
He pushed them hard, forcing them out. Han and her cameraman stepped back, from the scene.
But cameraman still clicked the last moment photo as he was getting dragged by the officers. Han's eyes burned — she didn't care. She already got what she needed.
Han and her cameraman stood outside the club, lights from the patrol cars flashing on their faces.
"Did you get good pictures?" she asked.
"Yeah," he nodded, holding up the camera.
"Good. Let's go."
"Wait… aren't we going live on TV?"
Han stopped, turned to him, her eyes burned with the passion. "No. What's the point of just saying two bodies found in a karaoke club? Son of a DA lawyer? That's boring."
She walked fast to the van, her heels hitting the ground sharp. "This is bigger. Think. Kang and his friends… now Seok and Kim. Same twisted bodies. Same marks. It's not a coincidence."
She pulled the van door open, climbed in quick. Inside, files and papers were spread on the small table — Kang, his friends, all her notes.
"Think, Han, think…" she muttered, fingers tapping fast on the table. "This isn't just murder. This is a pattern. A message. A serial killer."
Her lips curled, excitement evident in her voice. "Now that's the headline."
Her hands spreading the files of Kang and his friends, one by one, like she making all of them visible in front of her eyes.
Papers sliding, some falling on the side of the desk, but she didn't care. She wanted everything open.
"I need info on Seok Min-Jun and Kim Jae-Ho… gotta connect it somehow."
She immediately went online and opened the laptop, screen glowing on her face.
She quickly type the name of Seok first on the website, it was the restricted website from where you can get the case details about the person.
Then she quickly typed the name of Seok and Kim on the search bar of the website.