Free Web NovelGam Seonghwan, who had begun investigating on his own, was now completely different from before. He no longer smiled.
The hardened, desiccated look on his face gripped the viewers’ hearts.
* * *
While reviewing the case records from back then, Gam Seonghwan noticed several irregularities.
He realized that the most important document—the initial response report, also known as the first action report—had been tampered with.
“Dispatch time, condition at first discovery, whether the scene was preserved, details of initial response....”
He needed to determine which part had been altered.
He checked the movement logs of patrol cars near the crime scene during that time.
“It doesn’t match.”
If a patrol car had passed right in front of the house, there was no way they wouldn’t have heard the screams. It was a residential area on a weekday morning. If the noise had exceeded normal living decibel levels, the police would have noticed.
“From where....”
Where had the manipulation begun?
Gam Seonghwan compared the data from that period over and over again.
His eyes reddened as he looked at photos containing traces of his mother and younger sister, but he clenched his teeth and endured it.
As if he had sworn never to cry.
He took out the diary from that time, something he had buried deep away.
[March 2.]
Seongeun walks well now. She still trips a lot, but whenever I come home, she runs all the way to the door. She’s obsessed with peekaboo—she shouts “peekaboo” the moment the door opens.
[April 28.]
Seongeun is playing with a strange toy. It’s supposed to be a baby doll—it cries and laughs... it’s kind of creepy at night. I accidentally kicked it while going to get water, and it started crying—I nearly fainted. Why does a baby want a baby? I don’t get it.
[July 12.]
Seongeun is obsessed with playing princess. She refuses anything that isn’t a princess doll or princess clothes, cried so much she got a fever.
[August 29.]
Seongeun got scolded badly by Mom. Why is she so greedy with toys? There’s already a truckload of them. She has so many things to play with, so why won’t she stop scribbling in my notebook?
Where had it all gone wrong?
The back of Gam Seonghwan, trying to recall the past, looked pitiful and bitter.
—This is making me cry T_T... Gam Seonghwan is so heartbreaking
—A guy who used to smile every day is now completely dried out? This is exactly the kind of trope that drives fans insane
—Why is Shin Seojin so good at empty eyes, his acting feels even better than in <We Rund>
—TT_TT I can’t watch stuff like this, it seriously tears my heart apart
Shin Seojin went to find the first witness again to hear her testimony one more time.
“Ugh... my memory isn’t very good....”
“Just once. Even a little is fine.”
She had lived in the same neighborhood back then. Now, she had more white hair than black. As she recalled her memory, she slowly began to speak.
“It was the same as always that day. I heard Seongeun’s voice going ‘peekaboo,’ so I thought you had come home. Because after that, it got really loud. But it was something she did all the time. I thought she was just playing with her mom.” freewebnovёl.ƈom
—Feels like this grandma was paid off too
—If the perpetrator’s dad is a high-ranking police officer, of course she’d be involved TT_TT
—If he was the police chief back then, bribing a regular woman wouldn’t have cost much...
“But it got too loud, so I went over to say something.”
The scene shifted into black and white.
A tearing scream of a child, the kind you might hear near a playground. The kind of high-decibel sound that comes out when a child is excited or having fun...
“I heard laughter.”
She called out for the child and her mother, but instead of an answer, only laughter came back. The woman turned around and left, tossing a casual remark through the closed door as she did.
There was no particular result. No wavering gaze, no restless hands or feet—none of the usual signs of false testimony.
Gam Seonghwan walked down a dim street.
In his sight, he noticed an old woman selling dolls laid out on a stall.
[Fun doll that repeats what you say]
“Mom, look at this.”
“Oh, come on. Let’s go.”
“It repeats what you say.” frёeωebɳovel.com
A child spoke close to the doll, and it repeated the exact same words. The child laughed in delight. The doll laughed along.
“How much is this?” “Five thousand won.”
Even that conversation was repeated exactly by the doll.
A child.
A doll.
A doll that cried when laid down and laughed when shaken.
Waaah, waaah, waaah.
A baby’s crying sound rang out.
Then immediately—
Ahahaha! Ahahaha! Ahahaha!
A child’s laughter overlapped, echoing endlessly, spilling out like a speaker that wouldn’t stop.
A case file surfaced in Gam Seonghwan’s mind.
The toys scattered across the crime scene.
His sister’s favorite princess dolls, rabbit dolls, blocks, a toy train.
But among them—
The one thing that hadn’t been there.
A baby doll.
“...Ah.”
The screen shifted back to black and white.
His mother and younger sister collapsed, bleeding.
Teenagers startled by the sudden noise from outside the door.
“Hey! Seongeun’s mom!”
Startled, one of them stepped backward.
A doll nearby was stepped on.
Waaah.
A small crying sound came out.
A bloodstained hand grabbed the doll.
It shook.
Ahahaha.
Laughter rang out.
“Ah, I know you’re having fun, but could you keep it down a little, okay?”
Footsteps fading away.
The boys exchanging glances, intoxicated by the thrill.
Gam Seonghwan understood.
The time of death had been wrong.
The coroner had altered their statement based on the witness’s words.
The manipulation of documents began with the time of death.
“Alibi.”
Which meant the suspects’ alibis from that period no longer aligned.
A thread had been found.
* * *
[<Unfair Trade> breaks 20% ratings... dominates households with terrifying momentum]
[SBC becoming a “genre powerhouse”! <Unfair Trade> sweeps buzz rankings]
[Shin Seojin struggles alone without Han Yeoreum in investigation ⎢StarCutCut]
[The scene from <Unfair Trade> that horrified viewers with a baby’s cry?]
Eunnyangi clasped her hands together, breaking into a cold sweat every time Gam Seonghwan hit a wall.
—If Seohae were here TT_TT
—It’s so frustrating, Seonghwan looks like he’s struggling so much alone
—I’ve got full paranoia now, what if that person too? What about that one? I’m losing it
↳ Same, I’m suspicious of everyone right now, I can’t trust anyone
↳ If it were Seohae, I’d trust her no matter what T_T
Lee Seohae—the absolute partner of the protagonist, a genius mind that needed no suspicion.
Even without appearing in a single scene, she remained deeply embedded in viewers’ minds.
Every time Gam Seonghwan looked exhausted, furrowed his brow, or chased after someone, her absence was felt.
That desperate feeling viewers had when Lee Seohae collapsed after being attacked—
They wanted Gam Seonghwan to reach her quickly.
Now it had reversed.
People desperately wanted Lee Seohae to come to him.
“I’ve seriously turned into someone obsessed with male characters.”
Eunnyangi wondered how much she wanted Gam Seonghwan to succeed for Lee Seohae to linger so vividly in her mind, refusing to fade.
—Even though Seonghwan somehow manages on his own, seeing a character who used to be all soft and people-loving turn this sharp hurts so much T_T
—No way Kill Jaeyoung is going to kill Seonghwan, right...
↳ No no no no, unless he’s insane
↳ Fact) There are actually genre works that kill the protagonist in the final episode^^... I wish I didn’t know that
↳ Absolutely not
—When is Seohae going to wake up TT_TT
No one knew what had happened to Lee Seohae after the incident.
Her name wasn’t even mentioned once, yet viewers missed her throughout the remaining broadcast.
Without her, the case felt even more like an endless labyrinth.
At the same time, Gam Seonghwan solving that impossible mystery alone made him seem even more remarkable.
Han Yeoreum created presence even in scenes where she wasn’t there.
“Likely a case of Main Character Syndrome.”
The decisive clue came through recalling Lee Seohae’s voice.
The police chief’s son had studied abroad in Japan and collected countless figures and dolls.
—Holy shit
—What a psycho
—All those dolls together are seriously creepy
↳ I don’t know why but this freaks me out too
—TT_TT I screamed, please no
The dolls, gathered as if on display, felt like the saying—if you want to hide a tree, hide it in a forest.
“It refers to the phenomenon where one feels they are the center of the world—believing all events revolve around them. It is characterized by narcissism, emotional over-immersion, and narrative distortion.”
The police chief’s son appeared holding a doll taken from a glass display case, while Lee Seohae’s voice played like a recollection.
“They tend to have strong self-centeredness and narcissistic traits. For example, there are people who engage in behavior that is obviously dangerous to anyone watching, aren’t there?”
He shook the doll, but no sound came out.
People like this, the more fatal the secret they carry, the more they want to tell someone.
At some point in life, everyone feels the urge to speak.
As the statute of limitations approaches, they become intoxicated with the same thrill they felt during their first murder.
There are even cases where someone, drunk, rambled about their crime and was caught just three days before the statute expired.
As if feeling that same regret, the man hesitated before making a decision.
He would send the baby doll in for repair.
A critical piece of evidence containing both the victim’s DNA and his own.
* * *
[Unfair Trade Gallery]
[Today’s crispy potato GIF made.gif]
[It’s a shame Seohae isn’t here, but that makes it more tense and immersive LOLOLOL]
[Day 14 of praying for our stray cat’s recovery]
[I literally can’t imagine anyone else for Seonghwan or Seohae besides these actors now]
[I edited a version of Seonghwan crying because I really wanted to see it.jpg]
At last, the final broadcast week of <Unfair Trade>.
IP 85.152 felt relieved seeing that it still held both the number one rating and buzz rankings.
“The sound direction is seriously incredible.”
Last week’s baby doll crying and laughter sounds had been chilling to the spine.
Goosebumps spread across the entire body.
And that wasn’t all.
There were [N O V E L I G H T] tense, dissonant piano notes pressed like anxious fingers across keys, sudden honks and explosive noises layered in—
perfectly expressing Gam Seonghwan’s stress and inability to trust anyone.
In the end, Lee Seohae’s absence became a strength.
Without her, Gam Seonghwan became sharper, more sensitive—
and far more desperate.
