Chapter 321 – The Cleaver (8)

Hobin entered the crime scene which was at the victim’s makeup room. The police were collecting evidence from the room while Kyuhyun was crouched over the spot where the corpse lay. 

It was the same mondus operandi. The corpse’s head was cleaved just like it was in the previous crime scene. Hobin put on his gloves and stooped low beside Kyuhyun.

“Any clues?” he asked.

“The head had been perfectly cleaved with an axe,” Kyuhyun parroted. “The cuts are perpendicular-“

“I know,” Hobin said. “What else is there?”

“Nothing.”

Kyunhyun went back to his work, making Hobin sigh. There were no messages for him either but Hobin wanted to be absolutely sure. He approached one of the cops.

“Who found the body?” he asked.

“One of the assistants,” the officer replied. “We sent him to the police station for testimony. Also, the victim was popping high doses of some kind of medicine. Can you identify it for us, doctor?”

“Medicines?” Hobin frowned. The cop held out an evidence bag which had a bottle of pills. Hobin studied the bottle and read the label.

“These are for people who suffer from bipolar disorder,” he stated. “And these medicines are not easy to find in this country. Patients will have to opt for a substitute or order from abroad.”

“The victim had been popping them for a long time,” the cop said. “The interesting thing is that the victim had not been taking them for the past two days.”

“How do you know?”

The cop took out another evidence bag which had a sort of a medicine planner in it. Hobin read the content and realized that the cop was right. Chansub had been taking the pills everyday but for the past two days, the spaces on his medicine planner had been blank.

“Did anyone in his family die recently?” Hobin asked.

“No,” the cop frowned. “Mo Chansub had no relatives. His parents died when he was young, even before he entered the film industry. But he became depressed for the past few years. No one knows why.”

This is odd, Hobin thought. The victim had clearly been killed by the Cleaver but there was no survivor. Moreover, this patient did not seem to have lost anyone in the past few months. Yet, he had been depressed? 

Was his depression suppressed all these years? 

Jina and Jiwoon entered the crime scene and started to investigate. Unlike the last victims, there were no survivors in this one nor any messages. The police swept the area for clues and took everything they could find. Hobin was searching in the drawers and even the cabinet spaces but there was nothing.

“Found anything?” Jina asked him.

“Nope,” Hobin replied. “There’s nothing else here. We can try and analyze the things we found but I doubt any of it’ll help much.”

Jina was at a loss. “We should check out his house,” she suggested. “Maybe we’ll find clues.”

“I heard that Mu Chansub had a diary,” Jiwoon recalled. “It was in one of his interviews. We should find that diary.”

“Right!” Jina exclaimed. “I remember it too! He used to write down his thoughts in that diary. I bet we’ll find something there.”

“Let’s go then,” Hobin said.

…

Siwan was sitting across from Junho and Minho who looked very worried. He was in Minho’s office where he had summoned Junho as well. Junho was in deep thought while Minho addressed Siwan.

 “Are you sure that the Cleaver is after Hobin?” Minho questioned him.

“I am,” Siwan replied. “The Cleaver framed Wang Taehee last time and it nearly derailed Hobin to the point that the demon inside of him was coming out. If I hadn’t stopped him, who knows what would have happened?”

Minho was deeply worried. He had encountered a serial killer many years ago and he knew how manipulative they could be. That serial killer nearly killed Gayoon and his sister Mina but his main aim was to make Minho deranged. Thankfully, the serial killer was stopped on time.

“The Cleaver thinks of Hobin as a prey,” he concluded. “It’s a cat and mouse game between them and if Hobin loses, he’ll revert to his inner demon.”

“What do we do?” Siwan demanded. “We must stop him!”

“Do you know where he is?” Minho asked him. Siwan pursed his lips, not knowing what to do.

“We wait.”

Both of them look up at Junho in surprise. Wait?

“Why?” Siwan frowned. 

“This killer is going to chase Hobin,” Junho stated. “He’ll eventually comes in front of Hobin on his own. If the Cleaver really marked him, then all Hobin has to do is wait for him to come to him.”

“What if the Cleaver keeps on killing?” Siwan demanded.

“We can’t stop him from killing until we can catch him,” Junho reasoned. “But, if I’m not wrong, the demon is already close. He’s keeping an eye on Hobin already but we don’t know how. If we do anything now, the demon will be alerted.”

Before Siwan could reply, Minho said, “He’s right. Chasing the serial killer won’t help. He’ll go to Hobin eventually. What we need to do is identify the demon before it can attack. But we can’t wait around forever, old man. We’ll need to contain the damage.”

“If only Bomi was here!” Junho scowled. “Where the hell is he? We need him for a seance! If we can just summon the demon and ask him what he wants…”

“Is it necessary to have a seance with him?” Siwan asked.

“Well, no,” Junho admitted. “But we need at least two exorcists to carry out a seance properly. It’s safer since the demon is very dangerous.”

“Then I’ll do it.”

Junho and Minho were shocked by Siwan’s statement but the latter did not care.

“I’ll do it for my brother,” he stated firmly. “Tell me what we have to do.”

“Don’t be stupid!” Junho snapped. “You’re too inexperienced to do a seance.”

“You can teach me!” Siwan protested. “I want to do this. We don’t have time for the shaman to arrive! What if the demon harms Hobin?”

“I think Siwan is right,” Minho spoke up. “We don’t have much time. We have to summon the demon and ask what its deal is. If we can send it away during the seance, that’ll save us a lot of time.”

“Fine!” Junho exclaimed. “I’ll do it. But it’ll be very dangerous. The demon might try to kill us.”

“Then it’s a chance I’ll have to take,” Siwan gritted. Junho stared at him for a while.

“You know, your love for your brother will kill you someday,” he gritted. Siwan was silent for a while.

“I know,” he finally said.