In My Arms (Hometown Cha Cha Cha fanfiction)

Chapter 38: Kerosene

Eun chul's POV

"Good morning!" I'm greeted with the sight of Du Sik waiting for the police car outside of the police station.

"Oh? Chief Hong? What are you doing here?" I ask him.

"You're going to investigate the fire today right?" Du sik says. I nod.

"Come on, let's go." Du sik announces as he hops into the police car with me.

"Have they found anything so far?" Du sik asks me as we drive towards the crime scene.

"Not yet." I shake my head. "We only have the facts that kerosene was indeed used but there's no other clue that traces back to the arsonist." I sigh and rub my chin.

"Wait," Du sik starts and I look at him. "Don't all kerosene buyers have to register their names while buying it." Du sik asks.

I think for a moment.

"Only if it's more than twenty liters." I recall.

"Okay." Du sik snaps his fingers together. "This could give us a hint. Think about it, how much kerosene does it take alone to make a normal fire?" He asks rhetorically.

"I'm not sure..." My voice trails off.

"You see, one restaurant like Hwa Jeong's uses, let's say, at most ten liters. I suspect if the arsonist were to set such a huge building on fire, they would need at least twenty liters." Du sik says definitely.

"Wah, Chief Hong. Are you a genius?" I ask him.

Du sik winks at me and nods.

"Alright, after we search the crime scene, we're off to the petrol kiosk." I say.

~

"This place is really badly burnt..." I mutter as Du Sik and I reach the floor that Hye Jin was on.

"It gives me the creeps." Du sik says with an uneasy voice as he shifts the torch in his hand uncomfortably.

"Are you sure you are okay coming back into this building?" I ask Du sik. "If you have PTSD, you don't need to stay here." I say with concern.

"No, I'm okay." Du sik says with a determined look on his face.

"Ah!" He says suddenly and it makes me jump. "I remember now." Du sik seems to be speaking to himself.

"Chief Hong, what is it?" I give Du Sik a puzzled look.

"You said no one's been here for the past twenty years right?" Du sik asks.

"More or less. You have the occasional mover here to dump a couple of storage items." I nod slowly.

"Okay." Du sik says again and snaps his fingers together. "Let me see." He says as he kicks some debris aside with his shoe.

"Ah ha!" Du sik says and reaches down to pick up something that looks like it's been badly burnt.

"What is that?" I ask Du sik, heading towards him and the morphed object in his hand.

"I remember slipping on a cap while I was trying to get to Hye Jin." Du sik bites his lip as he ponders furiously.

"It might belong to the arsonist, because no one else comes here." Du sik says as he hands the half burnt cap to me.

"Oh? What's this?" I say as I notice a strange, yet familiar symbol at the side of the cap, just before the burnt edges.

"Hm?" Du sik asks as he looks at what I'm staring at. It's an odd symbol that resembles a snake that twists around a skull.

"I've seen this somewhere before..." I mumble as I search through my mind, though it only gives me a blank answer.