"This criminal is not alone", said Seonghwah
"Why do you say so, sir?", asked a subordinate who was still staring at the deep purplish-black colour of the symbol.
"Do you know why this symbol turned purple when it was sprayed with starch?"
"Yes sir, this indicates the presence of iodine"
"BINGO, this paint contains on of the most reactive chemical explosives on earth; nitrogen triiodide. Does the name ring a bell?"
"Yes, kind of. But what does this have to do with the criminal not being alone?", asked the subordinate; still perplexed at his superior's words.
"This explosive reacts to touch, it can explode from a feather, a wind or even a loud noise. To make this, you need a really powerful freezer-compressor to make liquid nitrogen and add it to the mix. Thats why the criminal couldn't be alone."
"Oh!"
***
'I have the first clue now', Seonghwah thought to himself while jogging back to his house (The van was under investigation because of the explosion).
"THE CRIMINAL IS NOT ALONE"
***
The sun shone bright in the Korean afternoon when Seonghwah suddenly felt a burning sensation in his armpits which were damp with perspiration from jogging back home. He figured it was some random burn from the explosion in the van, but little did he know; he had walked right into a trap set by the criminal mastermind.
When Seonghwah finally reached home, he took off his shirt in front of a mirror and saw very small yet numerous burn marks near his armpits. 'Odd', he thought. 'Shouldn't the burns marks be on either my forearms or face as they were the parts closest to the explosion in the petri dish'. But he finally didn't stress about it as he was already nervous about the case.
***
In the evening, a servant came to him with the samples of the explosive and blood infused paint and some photographs of the crime scene. And thus the search began.
***
"As we already know, nitrogen triiodide; the explosive that we have found in the paint particles, needs a powerful freezer cum compressor to be made", said Seonghwah to a team of expert investigators that had been deployed under him to search for clues; "Search the whole city of Seoul for such freezer-compressors. Notify me as soon you find one."
"The kidnappings are global, we might not find one in the city itself.", said one of the investigators.
"In case that happens, we will search nationally. But, treat the search across the city as the warmup for a huge workout."
"Yes sir!", said all of the investigators together before dispersing to look for the machine they were asked to find.
***
"There are hotspots of these kidnappings in other countries too, right?", asked Seonghwah after a failed 3 day search of Seoul.
"Yes sir, there are some in China, India, Brazil and Japan."
"Hmm, we can search Korea, but the other countries; can we ask them to get search teams in their own countries.?"
"Yes, but they might not agree sir. They have been searching for the criminal since the start without a clue, just like Korea. Ours is the most happening search of this case."
"Is there anything common in these countries?", asked Seonghwah abruptly.
"They all have cute girls and great food", said one of the investigators dreamily.
"HUH!"
"NOTHING SIR, nothing." Said the subordinate, blushing.
Seonghwah sighed and said, "Only a miracle can save this investigation now".
That was just what they got.
***
After a whole week of investigating past case files, questioning criminals in jail and trying to go deeper into the mystery to no avail. Seonghwah finally got the miracle he had been waiting for.
"Hey, I just saw some really scary lights and heard loud screams coming from an ice cream factory near my house." Said a feminine voice on the phone, "I felt very scared and called both the police and hotlines, you guys picked up first. I'm sending you the address, please come quickly."