Doctor Demon

Jina and Hobin were at their wits end. They were in the police precinct with Jaebum, Woohee, Chanmi and Dahoon. The whole case was confusing the team because there was no lead. For the past few hours, Dahoon had been trying to search for SJS66 as per Myungsoo's testimony but no luck.

"Boss, I tried everything but SJS66 is completely untraceable," he sighed. It was past 1 PM in the afternoon and none of them slept a wink all night. Their team had been working on the case, trying to trace the user but to no avail. Jina let out a frustrated sigh.

"What about the tattoo?" She asked. "The one Myungsoo showed us?"

She had already briefed the team about Myungsoo's tattoo and her suspicions that it may be connected to the serial murder cases. 

"Are you sure that his tattoo is related to his case?" Woohee asked. "Boss, the Cho murder cases were completely different and had a separate MO. Maybe he got the tattoo out of curiosity and is trying to hide his involvement in these Blue Fish murders? He's just trying to save himself!"

"Youngoo had that tattoo too," Jaebum pointed out. "Two kids got the same tattoo for fun? Sounds unlikely."

"They were best friends," Woohee reasoned. "It can happen. He's only trying to distract us. I say, we should arrest him!"

"But the forensic reports said that Minjoong had the tattoo as well and he wasn't related to Youngoo nor Myungsoo," Chanmi stated, glancing at some papers.

"We don't have proof against Myungsoo," Jina stated. "But if this SJS66 is the culprit, we'll know soon who it is. Dahoon, any luck?" 

Dahoon shook his head. He was in front of his desktop computer, trying to track down the user. He was not talking nor participating in the discussions because he needed to completely focus on tracking the culprit. He used several different codes but SJS66 had a complex system which could take days or even months to decode. 

Jina had secretly briefed him that the teen gang was in the dark web, trying to find SJS66. Once they find him, they will use a code to hack his system which will expose his location temporarily. Once that was accomplished, Dahoon would be able to track his location.

"I still think it's a waste of time trying to find someone we don't even know exists!" Woohee muttered. She was skeptical because the case made no sense. It was as if the murders were carried out by a ghost. No matter how close they came close to cracking it, they kept on meeting dead ends and it was frustrating the team.

"We'll have to try harder," Chanmi told her. "There must be a way. Dahoon is trying!"

"The thing is, this isn't an ordinary serial killing case," Jaebum stated. "This is a site which is targeting kids who visit it. But now it seems to be targeting adults too."

"As long as there's internet, anyone can be a target," Jina muttered. She turned to Hobin who had been silent all this time. He was leaning against the wall, thinking hard. His eyes were blank but Jina knew that he was trying to see things differently so that a new perspective could pop up.

"I think I've made a mistake," he murmured. Something seemed to have stuck him and his eyes sparkled again. He picked up a marker and wrote on the board.

"SJS66," he muttered. "Let's say, this is the murderer. We don't know if it's Myungsoo or someone else but he is the murderer. He's hiding behind a screen but using this site to kill people."

He drew a circle around the name. "Let's separate the game from the person," he went on. 

"This person is a coward," Hobin declared.

"What do you mean?" Jaebum frowned.

"Whoever he is, he hides behind a screen and doesn't come in front of it," Hobin replied. "He designed this site to somehow manipulate the people into killing themselves. We don't know how he's doing it but not everyone is dying here. There's a pattern."

"Pattern?" Woohee echoed.

Hobin wrote the names of all the victims but in two columns. One column had the names of Youngoo and the first victim, Minjoong. The other one had Yisub and Hwangjoon. He also wrote down the name of Myungsoo in a third column.

"Youngoo and Minjoong were the only ones who visited the site multiple times before their deaths," he pointed out. "And so did Myungsoo. The site clearly states that the one who will sign a contract will have a wish granted, right?"

"Youngoo, Minjoong and Myungsoo have the tattoos which we also found at the Cho murder sites," he went on. "Which means that these tattoos can either be some kind of weird fashion trend among weird teenagers who copied it from serial murder sites. Or, the tattoos have nothing to do with the murders itself but are part of something bigger. A cult, perhaps."

"Cult?" Jina frowned. 

"This cult is using others to murder people for something," Hobin said. "A ritual? Or a process? This tattoo has nothing to do with the Cho's murders but rather, they used it because of their cult practices. Like a symbol. And the developer of the Blue Fish site is doing the same. The murders from the two cases aren't connected but the murderers are. They are from the same cult."

"That's a far fetched theory though," Woohee stated. "Why will a cult risk itself like this? Don't they operate in secrecy?"

"We'll only know that once we find SJS66," Hobin said. "Which brings us back to him."

He pointed at SJS66's name.

"This person isn't a fighter," he continued. "He can't come out and attack people so he is using this site to kill them. This is my guess. People like Myungsoo, Youngoo and Minjoong have signed the contract because they visited the site multiple times. According to the contract we saw on the site last night, the person signing the contract will get to have a wish fulfilled in exchange for their lives. Our friend Myungsoo here, had a beef with Yisub. Maybe, out of anger, he signed the contract and wished for Yisub to die. He didn't mean it but the contract took it seriously and the developer of the site simply did the deed on behalf of Myungsoo?"

"But how?" Chanmi asked.

"Before Yisub died, the Blue Fish site popped up on his screen. The site's developer may have hacked his computer and showed him an image which hypnotized him. It's not completely impossible because there are many sites which play on our sense of sight and hearing to completely control us. It's a trick used by many psychiatrists to treat patients. Those who have knowledge on hypnotism can do it. The developer must be someone who has such knowledge and used it to make a site which hypnotized people into killing themselves."

"Once the contract is fulfilled, the developer waits until the time limit stated in the contract elapses and he proceeds to kill the contract's signatory. Myungsoo had jokingly written 3000 years as his time limit. This may have saved him because the site is designed in a way that he can't be made to kill himself for 3000 years. But Youngoo wasn't so lucky nor was Minjoong."

"What about Hwangjoon?" Woohee asked. 

"We need to find SJS66 in order to find out who killed him," Hobin replied. "If he's the site developer, then surely SJS66 will also have the backend data where all the contracts are recorded."

"This SJS66 is someone who is well versed in psychology, web development and is a loner, " he went on. "He has a sadistic mind and wants to inflict torment on others but when confronted with any pain, he'll cower. This person is addicted to online activities like gaming and is active in the dark web where he can hide with ease. This Blue Fish is also active in the dark web but flashes on the clean web at midnight for one minute only so that it can claim more victims. I doubt he's a school kid. Judging from Myungsoo's testimony, SJS66 seems to be online almost all the time which means he is either a dropout or an unemployed person who earns through the internet. Freelancer or online worker. Gamer, perhaps?"

"He also possesses a lot of anger in him to create such a destructive website," Hobin warned. "He's not a fighter but definitely obsessive and mad. If we confront him, he might try to kill himself so be very careful when questioning anyone."

Jina turned to her team. "Bring in Myungsoo and Aina," she ordered them. "We'll be questioning them again. Also bring in Eli, Yisub's sister. She has a lot of explaining to do."

The team nodded and instantly dispersed to carry out their orders. Jina turned to Hobin.

"I'll have to trust you with the questioning," she said. "I'll go and help the old man to track the demon. He texted me and said that Bomi is out of town."

"Do so," Hobin nodded. "I can handle them."

"Good luck," she smiled and walked out of the room. Hobin flexed his fingers and followed her outside. 

It was time for some action.

Dahoon, who was completely engrossed in his work, turned around.

"Can someone tell me whether the teens got any information-HEY! WHERE IS EVERYONE?"