Villain, Let Me Touch You! - Chapter 38
04. A Signal, A Union
“Again?”
It was Chief Constable Nick, walking while yawning into the misty dawn.
He scratched his belly and lightly tapped the foot of the body hanging from a tree.
“Hey, don’t touch that.”
“Kid, if you’re queasy about this, what will you do? Bring it down.”
Nick wiped his hand on his pants and stepped back. Two officers, following his command, reluctantly brought down the body.
The body lay neatly on a clean canvas. The officers, wearing gloves, carefully examined the corpse. Their rough touch lacked even the slightest courtesy toward the deceased.
“We have no evidence to identify the individual.”
“Sigh, check the missing persons reports. See if there’s a match. Contact the family if the description matches. And search this guy.”
Nick spat and walked unsteadily towards the body. The officer turned the body over.
“Strip him.”
“Pardon?”
“Take off their clothes, kid.”
“There are no signs of homicide. There’s no need to undress for confirmation. According to the witness statement, he came up the mountain alone three hours ago.”
“Who said it’s not a suicide? I just need to check something.”
Lately, there had been an increase in suicides among sturdy men. They all had similar marks.
Burn scars.
The palm-sized burn marks were a commonality among the bodies.
The back, shoulders, chest, and b******s—all different areas, yet the size and shape of the scars were so similar that they couldn’t be overlooked.
The officer, with a look of disdain, removed the shirt from the body.
“The pants too. Strip him completely.”
Uh-oh. The officer shuddered but obeyed Nick’s command. When the boss says to peel, you peel.
Nick scrutinized the naked body with an eagle-eyed gaze.
From the neck down to the heels, there wasn’t a single blemish.
“Turn it over.”
The officer hesitated for a moment. An indecent thought crossed his mind: ‘Could my boss be a pervert?’ He contemplated abandoning the task. However, since it felt like something was caught in his throat, he did as Nick commanded.
Once again, Nick examined the man’s body. He was about 180cm tall, but it only took a minute to search through his body.
“Damn it.”
A rough curse erupted from Nick’s mouth. He furrowed his brow and poked the side of the officer’s ribcage.
“See that?”
“Yes? What is it?”
“Those wounds there. Next to the belly button.”
“Oh… There’s a burn mark, isn’t there? It looks like a recent injury.”
The wound was filled with pus.
“Sketch that wound in detail.”
“But it’s a suicide case. Do we really need to sketch the wounds?”
“Yeah, we have to. Also, call in the witness who saw this person.”
“Can’t we just inform the family?”
It was apparent to anyone that this was a suicide. The officer didn’t want to invest energy in such a case.
“No, we can’t. And this isn’t just any suicide. Even if it was, it wouldn’t be an ordinary one.”
Nick had 15 years of experience working in the city’s police force, specifically in the notorious 4th district known for its high-profile cases. He possessed an innate sense for sniffing out clues. Thanks to this, despite lacking money or backing, he managed to climb to the position of Constable.
His instincts told him one thing. This wasn’t a straightforward suicide case.
Either it’s a homicide or the guy was a suicide victim.
After the final glance at the scars on the body, he turned away. He headed straight for the police station. A few hours later, he received a call informing him that the body had been transferred to the morgue along with the autopsy.
He laid the sketches on his desk. Several similar sketches were already present on Nick’s desk. Laid out together, the scars seemed even more alike.
“…If it was deliberately made, the craftsmanship is pretty intricate. But why go through this hassle? To torment? …If that’s the case, why go to the trouble of stabbing him with a knife, or holding their pharynx over a fire?”
Suddenly, a suspicious voice interjected.
“Who just barges into the Constable’s room without knocking!”
Nick snapped his head up.
