The Fifth Case (4)

I stare at the name on the screen, my eyes tracing the letters over and over again. Oh Sang-chul, 43 years old. The suspect whose voice had sent shivers down my spine, whose calm demeanor had set off alarm bells in my head.

As I dig deeper into his background, a disturbing pattern begins to emerge. Multiple stints in juvenile detention for violently assaulting his classmates. A history of brutality that followed him even into his mandatory military service, landing him in a military prison for attacking fellow soldiers.

But then, as if by some twist of fate, his record goes clean after he reaches adulthood. No more arrests, no more violent outbursts. It's as if he underwent a complete transformation, shedding his violent tendencies like a snake shedding its skin.