Dr.NoH 후아유?

○□HUSH

Seoul, 1982

Ten seconds, ten seconds, is all it took to pull the woman who now squirmed under his grasp while releasing muffled cries into the alley.

"Ssh, be quiet. Everything will be okay."

Stein wasn't one of these killers who put the victim to sleep with chloroform. No, he preferred to have their corporation or consent in what he considered a form of marital status, which ended when death did them apart.

"Please, don't hurt me, please."

Panic, fear, all victims reacted alike. Calm Stein pursued without trembling. The motions were standard procedure. Stein did his part and tried to reassure his prey as usual.

"Ssh, be quiet."

"Please, jaebal!"

"I told you to shut up, shut up, shut up. Oh, shit, that was a little too hard."

A cold and silent winter night, like those you've lived before, except for 20-year-old Lee Min Ju; this night was exceptional. The woman couldn't imagine the life-threatening encounter which waited for her in the dark. Seoul prosecutors issued a curfew women aged 15 to 30 could not walk the streets after 10 PM.

Min Ju finished her shift at 10 PM. What was she supposed to do?

Two younger siblings and a sick father depended on Min Ju's income. At the head of her family, quitting her job was unthinkable, even if Stein lurked somewhere in the shadows, spying like a vulture.

Within a year, Steinson, as the police baptized him, rocked the capital to its foundation. The police had found five women so far; the youngest victim was 15 years old.

Steinson or Stein's son, a fitting name for the killer who played doctor Frankenstein, the bodies discovered always had one part missing: Hands, feet, fingers, ears, and so on.

The killer mutilated every person using the same method, performing transplants of body parts that the police found on the next victim. The other thing which left the forensic agents puzzled was the deep scalpel cut crossing the head from left to right on the victim's forehead. They believed it was a ritual that became his signature. Jigsawed bodies and accurate incisions; one could not qualify Stein as a butcher but a meticulous surgeon.

Stein took off Min Ju's shoes, jewelry, and accessories like he usually did. For the trail, it was his cookies to the witch's house.

The items left behind pointed out in the right direction. Why didn't the investigators ever find the messages hidden behind them?

The police force was closer to catching Stein than they thought, but with every corpse he added to his record, they discouraged, and the gap between them and the killer widened.

Stein did his best to leave hints, the answers laid in every report, but no one paid attention. For now, his face harbored a perplexed expression; he didn't wish to knock Min Ju senseless. It was so much better when they walked barefoot and willed like maidens of Celtic sacrifices.

Stein lifted Min Ju and carried her on his shoulder. There was no one in sight with the curfew. The kidnapper, who knew the placement of all the street cameras, walked with assurance. Stein didn't even fear the police patrol; everyone knew they were understaffed and spent their time following hoax calls, leading nowhere. Dressed as a police lieutenant, anyone who crossed him in the obscurity of the night would believe he was doing his duty, picking up the drunk and the homeless.

Min Ju was light, if not to say weightless for the killer; it wasn't a good sign.

Min Ju would be quick to die, and Stein needed her to live; the killer was lonely. Perhaps she could distract him.