Chapter 39 - Murder Weapon

—Somewhere in the tunnel—

"Gosh…"

Han complained more than a thousand times just in this few minutes. Well, he had every right to. The moment he went down the sewer and into the tunnel, he lost his footing on the ladders and went spiraling down. Even though he splashed into black grimmy water instead of hard ground, Han couldn't decide whether he was fortunate or not. 

He was regretting his decision on going down the sewer to check if the murderer had decided to spare him some mistakes. Maybe he dropped something here? Han swore if he didn't find anything here, the murderer will be on his kill list. 

Contaminated water reached right below his knees, making him struggle to walk. His hair was dripping wet with grimmy water and an unknown smell he didn't even want to know. 

The tunnel curled away coldly into infinite dark. Han hurriedly clicked on his flash light and the orange light lit dimly, showing the rough walls dwindling. He almost sighed in relief when he patted his pockets for gloves and quickly snapping them on. 

He made his way through the cold sewage, easing deeper into the tunnel. Every so often, his ankles would brush against something, Han would quickly dip his hands into it, hoping it was something that belonged to the murderer, however, his hands mostly come up with dirt, wasted plastic bags or tissues. 

Han scrunched his nose up in disgust everytime he picked up something unrecognizable. 

"The things I do to live up to my name," He sniffed. "I didn't get called the legendary for nothing. I had to sacrifice everything!"

The water was also cold and Han was shivering from it, except he was also shivering for another reason. Whenever he picked up trash, he recalled how he fell into the water before and thought about how the water had covered his whole body. He almost retched. 

"Come on, come on…" He kept on repeating like a mantra. "No murderer is ever perfect. Even a psychopath killer makes mistakes!" 

This time he actively dipped his hands into the slimy dark and greasy water and searched the whole tunnel. He was just that desperate. For what seemed like hours, Han had searched the entire sewer. His back had cracked for bending over the entire time. His sense of smell was damaged for sure. He was getting used to the foul-smelling air, for fuċk's sake! 

And nothing! 

He should just bathe in there like a chinchilla. Even though he was the one giving that order, still, Han felt like he was going to drown in the tears of betrayal. 

The Alpha detective was losing hope at searching for any evidence. There seemed to be nothing in here. Sighing, he struggled against the heavy dirty water to reach the ladder. 

Bath. A long bath was required. He needed to scrub his body to cleanse himself until he bleeds. He demanded a purification done on him! 

Latching his fingers around the rusty metal bars of the ladder, Han heaved himself up. Powered with the thought of bath, he got himself out in no time. 

Cold fresh air; that he gladly breathed in; and dark night greeted his sight. 

"It's still night?" Han blinked. He recalled going down the sewer early in the morning when the sun hadn't even rose. 

Crawling out of the tunnel, Han paused his steps as he reached the crime scene. Recalling what the homeless man said, a suitcase floated out of the tunnel and was stuck by the shore. 

Floated? 

That could only mean where the suitcase was found wasn't the actual crime scene. If he remembered correctly, it poured like crazy the other day--

"Holy mother…" He swallowed the lump of saliva that weighed like a thousand ton and cursed. Picking up the flashlight that wasn't waterproof at all and starting to lose its energy, Han gritted his teeth when the loud ringing wasn't stopping at all. 

He patted his pockets and pulled out the nokia phone. Answering the call without looking at who called him, he snapped. "What?!" 

"My lil bro seems eager to answer my call," A deep voice singsong uncharacteristically. 

"I'm hanging up." Han sighed. This stupid idiot had just ruined his perfectly genious train of thoughts. 

"W--Wait, wait! Where is your manner, you punk!" 

"5." Han deadpanned. 

"Listen to me--" 

"4." Han smacked his flashlight, hoping to save it from blacking out completely, all the while walking over to the shore, trying to get himself out of the water. The feeling of his pants clinging to his skin was starting to bother him. 

"Remember that scientist you keep looking for? The one you search your buŧŧ off?" 

"What of him?" Han half-heartedly asked as he halted his step when his leg brushed over something and the sound of plastic caught his attention. 

Frowning, he crouched down. There, tucked under the bushes, was a bag of plastic. 

"--You won't believe what I found about him. Hey, Hey! You listening?" 

Han tore the plastic bag open. The thing inside made him widened his eyes. A knife was wrapped in a coat! A murder weapon! The murderer must have wrapped it in a coat and threw it away! And since it poured heavily that day, he must have thought it would travel far away due to the strong current. 

But instead of traveling away, it stopped right here, stuck. 

Han thought excitedly as he picked the knife up with his gloves hands. Feeling like he had found another puzzle piece, he almost jumped in giddiness. Hurriedly wrapping the evidence, he planned to take it back with him. 

"Hyung! I love you so much! Thank you!" Han immediately hung up and rushed back to his office, completely disregarding the caller. He had some jobs to do and boasting to Derek was one of them. 

XXX

"Haish… Little brat, he didn't even listen to what I said at all," Hwak frowned at the large screen of his newest edition of samsung. Snapping the phone shut, he exhaled loudly before looking over at his screen of his computer. 

A young man with light brown eyes with wavy and uneven dark brown hair looked back at Hwak. He was dressed in white swallow-tail coat, which was unfastened, exposing a dark buŧŧon down shirt with a white western tie. 

"This information will make a great breakthrough in my lil bro's life. Should I send him some depressant pills?"