Doctor Demon - Chapter 274

Jina and her team entered the crime scene which was a little outside the city. Hobin followed them as they climbed a small hill on foot because the road was too bumpy for a car. It was not a long walk but the hill was steep so they had to be careful.

The crime took place in a small cabin on top of the hill which was owned by a family. Swarms of policemen had arrived after a tracker had called them and to everyone’s surprise, the victim died the same way as the other victims of the Blue Fish website. The wooden cabin came to view as they reached the top of the steep hill.

“This is it,” Jina said. “The crime scene.”

“I’m shocked that the demon got an internet signal here,” Jiwoon muttered as she checked her phone. There was no signal on her cell phone.

“The demon probably managed to sneak in when the victim received even a faint network,” Hobin muttered back. They were lagging behind the others, talking to themselves.

An uniformed officer came rushing out of the cabin to shoo them away, thinking that they were civilians. Jina flashed her badge and he instantly understood that they were the team sent by the nearest precinct.

“Good evening Detective!” he greeted. “My men and the CSI team have already inspected the scene. I will brief you on it.”

“Who’s the victim?” Jina asked.

“A young man by the name of Kim Hwangjoon,” he replied. “He was twenty eight years old and a single father to a six year old girl. They had come up here for a small vacation and were fishing in the lake nearby. The family was supposed to set up a campfire here when suddenly, the lights went out. When the lights came back on, the father had killed himself and the kid came out to cry for help. But she fell from the hill and injured herself. A passing tracker found her and she managed to point at the cabin where her father lay dead.”

“A kid?” Jiwoon frowned. “Where is she now?”

“She’s at the hospital,” the police officer replied. “National Hospital.”

Jiwoon turned to Jina. “Boss, I’ll go and check up on her,” she requested. “She might be able to give us more details on what really happened and if it really was the demon who attacked them.”

“Yes,” Jina nodded. “We’ll check his browser history.”

Jiwoon nodded and quickly ran off to drive towards the hospital. Hobin and Jina entered the cabin to find the man lying on the floor with his throat slashed. There was a large pool of blood around his corpse which was the same as their previous victims. Dahoo, Woohee and Jaebum were already there, examining the dead body. Jina stooped down and picked up the man’s cell phone. She checked the browser history.

“His phone shows he had visited the Blue Fish site,” she confirmed.

“And there’s a hair here,” Dahoon stated, holding up a clear plastic bag with a single long hair in it. “But the father-daughter duo were alone here and the girl has short hair. How did this hair come here?”

“A girlfriend?” Woohee suggested.

“I doubt it,” Jaebum said, scrolling through his own phone. “I’m looking through this guy’s social media and he has no girlfriend. In fact, he’s been divorced for around a month. Look at his status.”

Jina opened the social media app on Hwangjoon’s phone and realized that Jaebum was right. The victim had been divorced for over a month and had the sole custody of his child. It was odd because usually the mother had full custody in such a case. His status implied that he was raising the child single handedly.

“We’ll question his ex-wife,” Jina said. “Take the corpse to the forensic team. We might be able to get a match on the DNA this time.”

The last time they found a strand of hair on Yisub’s body, there was no DNA match for it. Jina doubted they would find anything because the demon was not possessing anyone as per their knowledge. What bothered her was the fact how that demon was having sexual intercourse with some of the victims. Humans could not see nor touch demons unless they were Seers.

She motioned Hobin to follow her to the side where no one could hear them.

“It’s really strange,” she said in a hushed tone to Hobin. “That some of the victims had sex with that demon. Minjoong and Youngoo’s autopsies state that they had sex but how? How was it possible?”

Hobin thought for a while. “Maybe…” he began. “Maybe the demon isn’t possessing a person but rather creating an avatar.”

“Huh? What is that supposed to mean?”

“This demon is playing on the fantasy of the online world,” he said. “You know how in games we create avatars? Especially online games where people live in anonymity behind fake identities? The demon lives on the internet, right? Maybe the summoner of the demon made an avatar online and transferred the demon to that avatar. The demon is simply projecting the hologram of a girl and is using its powers to give the avatar a physical state. That way, the demon is playing on the fantasy of the victims and having sex with them.”

“Once the clock struck midnight,” he went on. “The site was activated and the avatar came out to kill the man. It might be due to the fact that someone gave the demon a contract to kill Hwangjoon.”

“But why did the demon appear before midnight in front of Youngjoon and Minjoong?” Jina frowned.

“It’s simple,” Hobin replied. “Their contracts stated they want to have sex with a beautiful girl. The girl just happened to be an avatar possessed by the demon.”

“If only we can find the avatar maker…” Jina trailed off.

“I just hope the teen gang can find him,” Hobin sighed. “And that kid…that kid might have seen the demon. If the demon was in an avatar, chances are that she saw it.”

“Or not,” Jina muttered. “Remember, the CCTV cameras couldn’t catch it even in the avatar form.”

“It’s like a succubus,” Hobin nodded. “Using its sexuality to lure in victims or to fulfill contracts.”

“But where is it now and how do we stop it?”

There was a long silence as they pondered on what to do next. Where the hell was that demon?