Chapter 168 – Murder

* * *

A group of survivors in the safe area.
A trial-like meeting was taking place in a gathering of all people, regardless of gender.

The agenda of the meeting was, of course, how to punish Joo Hee-kyung’s partner, Gyeong-cheol, who committed a crime.

After a short discussion, the details of the disposition were roughly solidified.
After spending all the coins where necessary, the plan is to expel them from the group.
Of course, there were some who opposed it.

“If you just banish such a criminal, you never know what he might do!”

It was the man’s partner, Joo Hee-kyung, who made that claim.
Joo Hee-kyung strongly argued that the man should be killed to get rid of Huhwan.

However, no matter how criminal they were, everyone seemed reluctant to hear the word ‘death penalty.’

“Who will kill you if you do?”

When someone asked, Joo Hee-kyung looked at the men.
But no one else would make eye contact with her.

“If we kill that man, will it be murder?”

Someone else asked, but no one answered.

Even if the man is a criminal, if he kills him, it is clear murder.
It was said that the law did not apply on this island, but no one knew whether that law would still apply after escape.

What if you manage to escape from the island and are caught for murder?
When I thought that way, no one could step forward.

“Are you going to kill Joo Hee-kyung?”
“Ugh…”

Joo Hee-kyung was also left speechless.

I don’t want to get my hands dirty. I’m also afraid of the aftermath.
Not only Joo Hee-kyung felt the same way, but everyone else felt the same way.

In the end, the decision to deal with the man was to expel him after using up all his coins.

At the end of the meeting.
Now all that remains is the decision of Cha In-cheol, the organizer of the meeting.

At that time, a man who had left during the meeting to go to the bathroom hurriedly ran to Cha In-cheol.

“Mr. Incheol. Wait for a sec.”

And then he quietly called Cha In-cheol.

“Is it urgent?”

Cha In-cheol, who stopped the meeting for a moment and followed the man, heard a surprising story.

“Is Koo Kyung-cheol disappearing?”

Joo Hee-kyung’s partner Gyeong-cheol, who was arrested for attempted murder and attempted rape.
The story was that he disappeared.

Clearly, Cha In-cheol handcuffed the man himself. Also on both wrists and ankles.
Still, escaping was not normal.

“How can someone whose hands and feet are bound disappear? “Didn’t someone release it?”
“I-I’m not. “I went to the bathroom to take a quick look and he was gone.”
“Does that make sense?”

This time, even Cha In-cheol couldn’t hide his nervousness.

That man is a vicious criminal. He was such a terrible person that he attacked my sister-in-law in an area where so many people lived together.

In addition, the man also has coins earned by his partner, Joo Hee-kyung. I estimate a large number of coins, close to four digits.

It would be a good thing if he ran away with that coin.
However, it would be a big deal if he even thought about revenge with that coin.

What if you buy weapons with coins and commit a terrorist attack in the middle of the night without asking?
The man had the funds and motivation to do so.

“Let’s take a look first.”

Cha In-cheol first headed to the tent where the man was detained.
In the empty tent, only the handcuffs that had been placed on the man’s hands and feet were left hanging.

“This…”

Cha In-cheol picks up the fallen handcuffs and examines them.
Cha In-cheol discovered something strange there.

“Have you touched these handcuffs?”

The man who first noticed that Gyeong-cheol had disappeared shook his head.
He said he didn’t touch anything as he saw it for the first time.

“Then it’s strange.”

Two handcuffs lying on the floor.
The reason Cha In-cheol thought it was strange was because he was all handcuffed.

“A person trying to run away would not have intentionally locked the handcuffs again after removing them.”

So does that mean the body disappeared, leaving only the handcuffs in place?
This is impossible according to common sense.

However, Cha In-cheol remembered that this island was far from common sense.

On this island, when an animal or person dies, the body disappears without a trace.
What if that man also died instead of escaping?
This also explains why he suddenly disappeared, leaving only handcuffs behind.

So who on earth killed him?

The first person that came to Cha In-cheol’s mind was Joo Hee-kyung.

The victim, Joo Hee-kyung, adamantly insisted on killing the man.
Gyeong-cheol’s hands and feet were restrained, so even if she was a weak woman, it would not be difficult to kill her.

But if she was going to kill her like that, was there any need for him to insist on killing her at the meeting?
Above all, she kept her seat at the meeting the whole time. There would have been no time for her to escape and kill anyone along the way.

Or maybe there is an accomplice?
If the first witness was Joo Hee-kyung’s co-conspirator, it would not be impossible.
When I thought about it that way, it seemed like the angle was right.

When Cha In-cheol thought that far.

“Mr. Cha In-cheol! Cha In-cheol, you’re in big trouble!”

A voice calling urgently was heard from outside the tent.
The person Cha In-cheol was thinking of as the culprit was Joo Hee-kyung.

“Joo Hee-kyung?”

As I hurried out of the tent, I found Joo Hee-kyung running, out of breath.

“Cha In-cheol, look at this!”

Meanwhile, what Joo Hee-kyung held out was a smartphone terminal.

“Also.”

It was originally an item that the man who was her partner would have had.
The fact that it was in Joo Hee-kyung’s hands was proof that the man was really dead.

“Read this message here.”

Joo Hee-kyung pointed not just at the cell phone, but at the screen.
There was a confusing system message written there.

『Player Gyeong-cheol was murdered by player Yoon Cheol-won.』
『Terminal ownership will be transferred to partner Kyunghee Joo.』

“… “Yoon Cheol-won?”

Cha In-cheol suspected that it was Joo Hee-kyung or her co-conspirators who killed Gyeong-cheol.
But the name written there was completely wrong.

Cheolwon Yoon.
There is no man with that name in this group.
Of course, it is not the name of the man who was the first witness.

The person Cha In-cheol suspected of being a conspirator was Joo Hee-kyung and the man she met outside today.
But that man must have been Mr. Kang. There was no one who could guess the name Cheolwon Yoon.

“No, just leave.”

As Cha In-cheol was thinking deeply, something about the name Yoon Cheol-won seemed to be stuck in his head.

Cheolwon Yoon, Cheolwon Yoon.
A name I heard somewhere.
However, it wasn’t like I knew it, it was just a name I had heard briefly in passing.

When I narrowed the scope down to that point, I was finally able to think of Cha In-cheol.

[The long-awaited first place in the number of murders among survivors!]
[Congratulations! This is Yoon Cheol-won, who killed 13 people!]

“Ah! That Yoon Cheol-won!”

Survivor rankings that were previously broadcast.
The name of the man ranked number one in murder there was Yoon Cheol-won.

“What? Do you know who it is?”

Joo Hee-kyung, who had no idea about the name, asks.

“It appeared in the rankings about a week ago. “It’s number one in terms of number of murders.”
“What? “That serial killer?”
“That guy killed Gyeong-cheol?”

Joo Hee-kyung, as well as the man who was her first witness, were surprised.

Everyone who lives here saw that ranking video.
Even though I couldn’t remember his name, his psychopathic appearance and the story of him killing 13 people remained strongly in my mind.

Such a psychopathic serial killer infiltrated this base and killed people.
Everyone was shocked when they realized that fact.

“This is not the time to be like this. “They might still be nearby, so don’t disperse and gather at the meeting place.”
“Well, that would be better.”

Joo Hee-kyung, who had been inwardly happy to hear that her brother-in-law had died, also turned pale.
The other person is a madman who killed more than 10 people in 10 days. He was a crazy person on a different level from his brother-in-law, who was an ordinary trash person.

“Let’s continue the meeting! “Everyone please gather again!”

While the meeting was temporarily suspended, most people stayed in their original seats, but some left to run errands.
Cha In-cheol hurriedly called all those people together.

“Is there anyone else missing?”
“I think the number is right.”
“Everyone gathered except Gyeong-cheol Koo.”

Cha In-cheol, who had been anxious that another victim might have arisen in the meantime, breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, there seemed to be no ‘victim who walks alone and dies’, which is common in horror movies.

“Everyone, please listen carefully. “The man we were talking about earlier, Gyeong-cheol, has died.”
“Uh? Suddenly?”
“When? “Now?”
“Dead? Or who killed him?”
“Yes. “He was just murdered.”

Was murdered
Everyone was nervous when Cha In-cheol said that.
People’s attention was naturally focused on Joo Hee-kyung.

“What, what? Why are you looking at me? “I didn’t kill him!”

This is Joo Hee-kyung, who had argued for the death penalty for Koo Kyung-cheol a little while ago. If Gyeong-cheol had been murdered by someone, Joo Hee-kyung would have been the first to be suspected of being the culprit.

“It’s not Joo Hee-kyung. “My name is Cheol-won Yoon.”

Cha In-cheol stepped forward and lifted the suspicion focused on Joo Hee-kyung.
Then another question arose.

“Yoon Cheol-won? “Who is Yoon Cheol-won?”

If Gyeong-cheol had died, he thought that someone in the group would have killed him.
But there is no one named Yoon Cheol-won in this place.

A situation that leaves everyone puzzled.

“Oh!”

The first person to notice was Seoyoung Kim, who was sitting quietly in the corner.

“I know! That person! “He’s the guy who killed 13 people in the rankings!”

She is Kim Seo-young, and I have watched her ranking video several times by myself.
Of course, she only looked closely at the scenes where Kang Chang-jae appeared, but she also couldn’t help but hear the name Yoon Cheol-won several times before and after them.

“You’re right. “The same murderer killed Mr. Gyeong-cheol.”

When Cha In-cheol added to Kim Seo-young’s words, a big uproar arose.

“What? Is that really true?”
“Isn’t it possible that someone else killed him and passed it on to him?”
“Did you catch the culprit?”
“Are you still around here?”
“Near here? Wow!”

The commotion grew even louder when someone said something.
If the killer is nearby, it’s no surprise that he becomes a target at any time.

The atmosphere in the meeting room was so chaotic that it was incomparable to when discussing the disposition of Gyeong-cheol.

“Quietly! “Everyone, calm down!”

Even though Cha In-cheol tried to change the atmosphere, the commotion did not subside easily.

Serial killer. And those who are agitated.
Cha In-cheol sensed that the biggest crisis the group had ever experienced had come.