"This is a perfect sniper's nest," Clay muttered, stepping beside the window to scan the view outside. Then, he turned back to the gruesome crime scene, a thoughtful expression crossing his face.
"Something doesn't add up, guys. There's a contradiction here."
Jack, recognizing Clay's usual mix of theory and fieldwork, didn't answer immediately. Instead, he turned to Aubrey, curious about his take.
"Based on how the bodies were disposed of, this killer is a calculated and methodical individual," Aubrey began. "But just look at this crime scene—it's a complete mess. Blood everywhere, no effort at all to clean up."
Aubrey, a former top student with a background in psychology, had kept pace with Clay in profiling studies. He instantly caught on to the issue.
Jack nodded and added another point.
"Then there's the method of transport. We know he used a shopping cart to bring the victims up here via the elevator.
Even though this building's security is practically nonexistent, there's still some risk involved.
Pretending to help a drunk friend and carrying a drugged victim into the elevator would've been a safer way to do it—unless…"
"Unless he wasn't strong enough to carry them," Clay finished the thought.
"Or," Aubrey grinned, snapping his fingers, "he left the cart in the elevator beforehand.
Either way, he must be connected to this office space.
A private elevator and keys to this place? No way that's a coincidence."
"Sounds so convincing," Ma Sido grumbled under his breath.
This FBI mumbo-jumbo of behavioral profiling was completely different from his straightforward detective work.
At that moment, the ding of the elevator echoed from the hallway, followed by the sound of doors sliding open.
Then came the polite greetings of the uniformed officers stationed at the entrance.
"Prosecutor Kim, you're here."
The overwhelming stench of decay didn't faze Kim Jun-ho at all.
His stern expression remained unchanged as he scanned the crime scene, his cold gaze finally locking onto Ma Sido.
"Did you notify the forensics team?"
Even Ma Sido, as blunt as he was, had to slightly bow in respect to the prosecutor.
"Already done. They're on their way."
Kim Jun-ho's icy gaze then shifted to the three FBI agents.
For a brief second, he hesitated—as if making a major decision—before stepping up to Jack.
Then, in a deep bow, he extended his hand.
"I apologize for my rudeness last night," he said. "Please, forgive me."
Jack was caught off guard by the dramatic display.
He quickly shook the prosecutor's hand, his confused eyes darting to Jubal and JJ, who had just arrived with him.
A few minutes later, after handing the crime scene over to the forensics team, the FBI agents and Ma Sido left the building—finally getting a chance to talk in private.
"What the hell was that about?" Jack asked, baffled by Kim Jun-ho's sudden change in attitude.
Jubal smiled knowingly.
"He did the exact same thing to me on the way here," he said.
"As I mentioned before, Kim has a massive ego, but he's also genuinely committed to his job.
We found out who owns this office—Lee Geon-woo, a South Korean citizen.
You should've seen Kim's face when his name popped up in the system—he was literally shaking."
"And who is Lee Geon-woo?" Aubrey asked, curious.
Kim's reaction made it clear this wasn't just any suspect.
"Kim said he has a criminal record. Dubai requested his extradition two years ago," JJ explained.
"He was accused of attacking a prostitute with a box cutter in Dubai but escaped back to South Korea before he could be arrested."
She pulled a file from her bag and handed it to Jack.
"Alice and Hannah dug up some info on him just now."
Jack flipped through the pages and nodded in understanding.
"No wonder Kim was so worked up.
This guy is a chaebol's only son."
"A what?" Clay asked, confused.
"'Chaebol' is a term created specifically for Korean conglomerate families," Jack explained.
"It refers to dynasties of immense wealth."
Lee Geon-woo's father was once a famous plastic surgeon.
Later, he founded a major pharmaceutical company and built a fortune worth hundreds of millions.
He wasn't on the level of Samsung, SK, or LG, but he was still a major player in South Korea.
That explained Kim Jun-ho's excitement.
A chaebol heir falling into his lap—irrefutable evidence leading to an open-and-shut case—this was a golden opportunity.
In South Korea, becoming a prosecutor was brutally difficult and insanely expensive.
Even if you were a genius, breezing through every exam, the absolute minimum cost was equal to 20% of a middle-class family's total income for 30 years.
With South Korea's sky-high cost of living, that was essentially every penny a family could save over a lifetime.
Even then, the acceptance rate was less than 3%.
Originally, the judicial exam was open to everyone, allowing poor students a shot at the legal system.
But in 2007, South Korea reformed the process—closing the exam to the general public.
Now, only those who attended law school could qualify—cutting off the lower classes entirely.
And even after becoming a junior prosecutor, you still had to grind for 10+ years before advancing.
The higher you went, the longer the experience requirement became.
But even that wasn't enough.
You also needed connections, fame, and backing from a chaebol.
In South Korea, the relationship between prosecutors and chaebols was a complicated dance of mutual benefit and conflict.
Chaebols often married their daughters to prosecutors, strengthening family ties to legal power.
At the same time, smaller chaebols—especially reckless heirs like Lee Geon-woo—were the perfect prey for ambitious prosecutors.
Taking down Samsung was impossible for a low-ranking prosecutor.
But bringing down a mid-tier chaebol or throwing their only son in prison?
That was a fast-track ticket from district offices straight to the top.
"So," Clay muttered, realization dawning,
"Now that the suspect isn't American, but Korean, we're not an inconvenience anymore—we're his golden ticket to a promotion?"
Jack smirked.
"Bingo."
"If the killer were American, convicting him would be next to impossible—and Kim would take the fall."
The media attention on this case was already huge.
If Kim failed, he'd be stuck in low-level offices for the rest of his career—at best.
"But now, the suspect is a chaebol heir—and the FBI is here to back him up.
With three foreign victims and airtight evidence, this case is as good as closed."
"Ugh, this leaves a bad taste in my mouth," Aubrey scoffed.
Jack chuckled.
"Or maybe, just maybe, Kim really is a good prosecutor—and he just wants justice?"
After all, some things could only be judged by actions, not intentions.
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