Lilies are the most commonly used flower for funerals because they symbolize the innocence that has been restored to the soul of the departed. Stargazer lilies symbolize sympathy and are associated with majesty and purity, and they are the symbol of Mother Mary's purity and chastity. While the leaves symbolize her modesty, the white petals represent her innocence and purity. Peruvian lilies represent friendship and devotion while pink lilies represent wealth and prosperity. These beautiful flowers always bring peace to the receiver's mind.

— — —

He hummed a tune as he wiped the knife clean. Its blade shimmered from the moonlight. He looked at the woman tied to the seat with a white cloth stuck in her mouth, preventing her from screaming in fear.
     The black handkerchief he used to wipe the blood seemed ordinary in appearance until rinsed out. He placed the knife back in its case, shoved the handkerchief into his back pocket, and then stood up from his seat across the woman's and leaned in close to her face. Her weak, shaky, and irregular breathing was music to his ears. She was barely hanging onto her life.
     He stepped back and marveled at his masterpiece then said quietly, "You're so pure now." He held a chunk of her long hair in his hand and let it glide off. He grabbed his things then exited the house as a droplet of her blood slid down and splashed onto the white tiles underneath her, tainting its purity.

—TWO HOURS LATER—

The flashes of a camera sounded throughout the surrounded house filled with police officers, forensics analysts, and detectives. A tall, middle-aged man walked up next to an intimidating woman inspecting the female corpse.
     "What have you got for me, Detective Gyung-hui?" he questioned.
     "Stab wound to the stomach, middle of the chest, a bit above the heart, and right upper leg." She pointed to the exact same spots as she answered. "He didn't want to kill her right away, like the previous ones. Her throat was cut minutes after the stabbing."
     "To silence her?"
     "No, he wanted to ensure her quick death after doing what he needed. He had already gagged her mouth with a cloth."
     "She would've bled to death anyway. Why slit her throat as well?"
     "Why are you asking all this as if this is our first case?"
     He shrugged. "It's part of the procedure, Gyung-hui."
     "Joon-tae, this is the fifth case already. We need to quickly catch the killer."
     "You don't think I know that? I just need to make sure we have all the details down by asking all possible questions." She sighed and raked a hand through her thick hair. "Did he leave a video again?"
     She nodded. "He always does; it's part of his pattern, but this time, he left a note as well." She handed the small, yellow card to him.
     He looked at the three words written on it. "Isn't she beautiful?" he read aloud. "Gotta say, he's got pretty handwriting." She looked at him, unamused. "Let's watch the video." He took the SD card and inserted it into their camera.
     In the video, the victim was tied to the seat with blood oozing from her wounds, soaking her clothes a crimson red. She was trembling and crying as she watched the killer behind the camera. It was silent, but obviously, he was somehow communicating with her since she shook her head vigorously after a while. She flinched then sobbed quietly and looked at the camera as she confessed her sins.
     "Song Min-joo, the victim, did exactly the same thing as the other victims; they confessed their sins in front of the camera, and then the video ends abruptly."
     "So we know the killer has a twisted way of playing detective, huh?"
     "Precisely, it must seem like some kind of justification for him, but why? None of what the victims confessed had anything to do with him, so we know he's not doing this for revenge. Is he just going around trying to 'purge sinners'? Moreover, he's only gone after females so far."
     "Probably a sick perv..." Joon-tae set the camera down and stared at the corpse. "What I don't get is the flowers." They looked at the blood-tainted, white stargazer lilies sticking out from the wounds and mouth. "Why would he put flowers in them, and they're always white lilies?"
     "That's what we're to be figuring out, Joon-tae."
     "Maybe he thought the flowers would be a nice aesthetic addition," a young man said as he joined them. "Or it could mean something to him." The two watched him blandly.
     "You're late, Sang-cheol," Gyung-hui stated.
     "Sorry, I had to make a stop to the bathroom before my ass exploded from diarrhea."
     "TMI, Sang-cheol." She grumbled and went to talk to a forensics analyst.
     "What did you eat, man?" asked Joon-tae.
     "I think there was something wrong with the rice ball I had earlier," Sang-cheol answered.
     "I thought I told you to stop taking the expired convenience store snacks just because they're free."
     "I just can't. I need to save money, hyung."
     "Anyway, you're ready to work, right?"
     "Yes, sir!" He stood straight and saluted.
     "Good, go around and ask the neighbors if they saw anything suspicious a few hours ago." He nodded and left.
     "You're too easy on him," said Gyung-hui.
     "He's just a newbie."
     "That's exactly why you need to be strict with him. That's the only way to learn. If you don't, he'll end up being a sloppy, careless detective!"
     "Are you still angry about the higher-ups? Detective Seon-ho is busy with other cases, so he can't take this one on."
     "Which is more important? This case or the stupid one he's on? Also, I didn't name anyone. I was just speaking generally." She looked away with crossed arms, a bit irritated.
     "Sure...Whatever you say, Gyung-hui."
     "Detective," one of the police officers called her, and she quickly followed them. Joon-tae sighed and put his hands on his hips as he looked at the corpse once more then noticed something. He glanced around him to make sure no one was looking then walked up to it and retrieved a small pen from behind the flower in the mouth. He inspected it closely and narrowed his eyes as he thought about it carefully. Then, his eyes widened, and he clenched his jaw before pocketing the evidence secretly.

— — —

     "Uh, Mrs. Kim said she saw something similar to a figure passing outside her window when she woke up to her cat scratching at the door," Sang-cheol informed Gyung-hui as they stood at the entrance of their department at the police station.
     "Gyung-hui," Joon-tae called.
     She nodded at him and turned back to their underling. "Please follow up on that," she responded, and he nodded then she followed Joon-tae as he watched her leave. "Did you get a lead?" she asked Joon-tae.
     "Yes, I found something that tells us exactly who the killer is."
     "What is it?" He showed her the pen, and her brows furrowed. "A pen?"
     He nodded firmly. "I've seen this pen somewhere before."
     "Where?" He signaled for her to lean closer and whispered into her ear. Her expression turned grim, and she looked at him. "Are you sure?"
     "Yes, I am certain it is him," he answered seriously, and she gave a short laugh.
     "Well, let's catch him."
     A few hours later when everyone was clocked out, Joon-tae entered again and saw Sang-cheol finishing up his work. "Hey, newbie. You almost done yet?"
     Sang-cheol looked up and smiled. "Almost done, hyung. What are you still doing here?"
     "I'm here to let you know we've got a lead on the case."
     He raised his brows and asked, "Really? That's great! What is it?"
     "Well, I found a pen at the crime scene," he replied and took it out.
     Sang-cheol stopped what he was doing and stared at it. "Interesting...If you don't mind me asking, how does that lead us to the killer?"
     "You see, I've seen this pen before, and it took me a while to remember where." Joon-tae rolled the pen between his fingers as he looked at it.
     "Where did you see it before, hyung?"
     "Why did you do it, Sang-cheol?" he questioned, glaring at his underling.
     "Why did I do what?" he asked and blinked in confusion. Joon-tae didn't answer. "Wait, you think I'm the killer???" He stood up abruptly in disbelief. "How does that even make sense? I was working here before the killings even started. Does it look like I even have the time to go around killing people when I got so much work piled up?"
     "You're right. You did start working here before the killings started, but they coincidentally started not long after you joined our force. I thought it was suspicious, and I did think about it, but you just didn't seem like that kind of person. Boy was I wrong."
     "Exactly, coincidentally! Why would I work as a detective if I'm gonna go kill people?! Plus, I've never seen that pen before in my life!"
     "Okay, so we're going back to the pen, right? You can lie all you want, Sang-cheol, but I've got a sharp eye for things, and I clearly remember seeing this very pen clipped onto your coat pocket the first day you joined us."
     "Hyung, I don't even have a pen like that! You must've seen wrong! I mean, you are getting older...Besides, it's not like they don't sell a bunch of the same pens. Would it be so odd for me to even have one if I did? Keyword, if."
     "Yeah, you're not wrong."
     "See?" He threw his hands up.
     "But not all of these pens have this symbol engraved into it." Joon-tae revealed a symbol on the pen resembling an 'S' stacked atop another, '§'. "And I've also seen this symbol somewhere else too. He got closer to Sang-cheol and pushed back the sleeve of his coat to reveal the same symbol tattooed onto his inner wrist.
     "Hyung, symbols like that are common. Kids these days are creating a bunch and posting them online. The killer probably saw it just like the tattoo artist I went to years ago."
     "The symbol stands for Seok Sang-cheol, doesn't it? And before you deny again, I went to every tattoo artist in this province asking for someone who had this symbol tattooed onto them. I ended up with two other suspects until I showed him a picture of you, and he told me you specifically asked for him to tattoo this symbol onto you. Need I continue exposing your lies?"
     Sang-cheol looked dumbfounded until a smile slowly crept its way onto his lips. "As expected from hyung. You and your sharp eyes," he stated.
     "No, even if I did have sharp eyes, a coroner or a pathologist could've found it once they inspected the body closely. You put the pen where I could see it on purpose so that I would catch you. Why?"
     "Is there a reason for everything?"
     "Of course." Joon-tae watched him carefully.
     Sang-cheol sighed. "I just wanted to see how competent you were as a detective since Detective Seon-ho and his partner couldn't crack my case years ago."
     "Your case years ago? This isn't your first serial killing?"
     He nodded and grinned. "A few years back I conducted a chain of killings aimed toward a certain group of teenagers, and Detective Seon-ho spent a very long time trying to track me down but failed. When I heard a new detective was rising up the ranks, I decided to check if he was the real deal, so I changed my method of killing and created another serial killer for him to try and catch."
     Who knew it took you five victim's and a hint to figure out it was me? Sounds like they were lying when they were praising your work, but at least you didn't take as long as Detective Seon-ho; eleven victims and a case unsolved, until now..." He smiled eerily. "However, I do have to commend you for having such sharp eyes. Detective Seon-ho lacked that and now look at him."
     "Even if you're a murderer, I have to agree with that," Gyung-hui commented as she appeared with a gun in hand aimed toward him, and she showed that she was recording his whole confession with a recording pen.
     "Glad to have something in common, Gyung-hui sunbae."
     She scoffed at his remark. "Why did you join our force then?"
     "Oh, I just wanted to watch you work on my case." Sang-cheol shrugged and smiled sweetly. "Would you like me to explain my latest masterpieces?"
     Gyung-hui chuckled a little in disgust. "No need. We figured it out."
     "Even the flowers?"
     "Even the flowers," Joon-tae replied. "White stargazer lilies, to be exact." Sang-cheol smirked. "It was weird how you were only targeting females, and every one of them had a sin to confess. You were hoping to 'restore' their purity by killing them and using the lilies. A twisted logic if you ask me." Sang-cheol shrugged. "There was no other criteria to your victims other than them having committed something wrong and being 'tainted' by it. It was difficult to track down who your next victim was because of that as there was no set pattern other than the method of killing. We tried to have women willingly come to us to let us know the crime they committed, so we could protect them, but many refused to spill their secrets, and the ones that did never became the next victim. Makes sense since you were working with us."
     Furthermore, I once overheard your conversation with Byul-hee; you admitted to favoring women who were pure because that's the way they're supposed to be as females. How stereotypical, you obsessed maniac. After forcing your victims to confess their wrongdoings, you'd finish them off then plant white stargazer lilies into their wounds. I was confused at first, but after searching up their meaning, I finally understood. Lilies, in itself, symbolize the innocence that has been restored to the soul of the departed, and stargazer lilies symbolize sympathy and purity. Although, I doubt the sympathy applies."
     "Actually, it does. I feel bad that they have to be forced by someone like me to repent on their sins," Sang-cheol responded, and Gyung-hui gritted her teeth in anger as she got closer with the gun.
     Joon-tae put his hand up to signal for her to calm down, and she stopped. "It's time for you to stop playing God, Sang-cheol. It is not your right to judge them and to punish or correct them."
     "But if not me, then who else?"
     "We will do it our own way, the rightful way. There is no need for someone like you. You are a danger to society, and you know that."
     "Do I?" he asked and rubbed his chin. "Hm, in your eyes, maybe."
     After a short pause, he stretched out his arms in front of him, and Joon-tae knitted his brows. "You're not going to run away or try to fight back?"
     He shook his head and smiled a little. "That was never part of the plan when I started this second set of killings."
     Joon-tae looked at Gyung-hui, and she nodded. "Seok Sang-cheol, you're under arrest for the murder of five women. You have the right to remain silent and apply for an attorney."
     He cuffed his wrists behind his back, and Sang-cheol gave a short laugh. "You know, it was nice working with you two while it lasted, hyung and noona."
     The two looked at each other then at him and said, "Same here, underling."