Chasing Tails

 (꼬리잡기, Kkorijapgi) was a mystery Webtoon Original created by BASHI; it completed on October 12, 2023. The original Korean Webtoon premiered on Naver and completed on August 19, 2023.

Synopsis
''After nine college students are trapped under a collapsed building for 14 days, only six come out alive, and only four of them can speak. The dead bodies of their fellow students are viciously mangled, leading police to investigate the case as a possible homicide. Detective Lieutenants Jeongdo Kwon and Yeongchae Shin, together with renowned neuropsychiatrist Dr. Yeongwha Ju, must parse through witness testimony and inconclusive physical evidence to uncover the truth. But how do you solve a locked-room murder case when every witness is a suspect?''

Dr. Yeonghwa Ju (주영화)


Yeonghwa Ju is a neuropsychiatrist and Advisory Committee Member assigned by the prosecution as an advisor to assist in the the Contra Studio incident investigation. She is well-known among the public due to being one of three survivors of a well-publicized tragedy on Mt. Songni in the 1990's, as well as looking beautiful and much younger than her age.

Her nonchalant attitude towards the violent and tragic circumstances of the Contra Studio incident unnerves her colleagues, Jeongdo and Yeongchae. Given her background as a medical professional and her role as an advisor, she is expected to exhibit more sensitivity towards the victims than she does.

Internally, she appears to be haunted by her experience as a survivor of the Mt. Songni, as she sees ghosts of heavily mutilated corpses at night around her bed and her mirror.

She appears to be in a relationship with Prosecutor Yunseong Choi.

See Yeonghwa Ju.

Lieutenant Jeongdo Kwon (권정도 경위)


Jeongdo Kwon is a member of the Seoul Yongam Station Homicide Unit 2. He is called the "Yongam Station G.O.A.T" among the prosecutors. He is respected among his colleagues and the prosecutors for being competent at his job, including his success at catching the Yongam serial killer arsonist two years prior. However, he is known to be a workaholic, and therefore, feared for keeping the rest of his team working overtime. His dedication to his work leaves him little room for a social life, which annoys his girlfriend. He is unnerved by Yeonghwa Ju, and their working relationship becomes strained as the series continues.

See Yeonghwa Ju.

Lieutenant Yeongchae Shin (신영채 경위)


Yeongchae Shin is a member of the Seoul Yongam Station Homicide Unit 2. She is more light-hearted than her colleague, Jeongdo, and is willing to tease or crack jokes with her team.

See Yeongchae Shin.

Victims of the Contra Studio Incident
There are nine students of Seongjong University that were trapped for 14 days in the collapse of the Contra Studio. The students gathered around 1 AM in the second floor of the basement where the editorial room is located.

Junho Ko (고준호)


25 years old, Junior at Seongjong University Film Department, 185 cm tall and blood type B. Deceased at beginning of the series. He was gruesomly mutilated into several parts.

Junho Ko is popular at Seongjong University as he is known for his good looks and height.

He and Yujeong are not members of the film club, when he joined the others at the Contra Studio tour (Episode 2).

He is a former Nursing major and was able to observe the corpse of Yun Kim (Episode 11).

The cutter knife was found inside his decapitated head (Episode 16).

Junho tells Taeyeon that he knows that she helped the club president steal the membership fees, and that he's like to help her take care of it when once they are rescued.

Spoiler Episode 27 It is revealed that he may have strangled Cheongnok.(Episode 27)

See Junho Ko.

Yun Kim (김윤)


23 years old, Sophomore at Seongjong University Film Department, 169 cm tall and blood type A. Deceased at the beginning of the series. The cause of death was due to cervical vertebra fracture (Episode 13).

Yun Kim is sensitive around her environment and is not afraid to complain about it, much to the other victims' annoyance. She remarks on how weak physically she is.

She picked fights with Hanna Jeong, as she felt insecure about Hanna's history with Cheongnok. Later on, she and Hanna made amends.

She was dating Cheongnok Lee at the time of the Contra Studio Incident. However, while Yun and Cheongnok was getting water, Yun told Cheongnok that they should break up.

Spoiler Episode 23 She went to get water with who she believed was Cheongnok Lee at the time of her death, despite Cheongnok's water partner alibi indicating otherwise (Episode 23)

See Yun Kim.

Hyeseong Baek (백혜성)
23 years old, Sophomore at Seongjong University Film Department, 175 cm tall and blood type AB. Deceased at the beginning of the series at 10 days after the incident. Cause of death was extreme compression on her chest area. Interesting, her autopsy revealed an increased presence of hormones like endorphins, indicating happiness or excitement before her death (Episode 15).

Hyeseong Baek actively tries to avoid conflicts, including physically hugging to Hanna Jeong to stop her argument with Yun Kim.

Hyeseong Baek had a crush on one of the victims (Episode 15). It is likely that her crush (or someone impersonating that person) was her killer.

She is close friends with Hanna Jeong. She confided in Hanna that she had a crush on one of the victims prior to the Contra Studio collapse, although she did not reveal who it was (Episode 15). She encouraged Hanna to reach out to Yun Kim to make amends.

She was scared that someone was touching her in the dark.

See Hyeseong Baek.

Juntaek Song (송준택)


24 years old, Junior at Seongjong University Film Department, 179 cm tall and blood type O. Unconscious and in critical condition at the beginning of the series.

Juntaek Song is loud-mouthed and rude to the point that the other victims dislike him. He is selfish as demonstrated when he asks the female victims to give him portions of their bread, because of their female anatomy. He threatens violence on others when they do not follow what he wants, including on Cheongnok Lee.

When Cheongnok launched himself on Juntaek, he himself beat up Cheongnok and grabbed his throat in a chokehold.

See Juntaek Song.

Yujeong Shin (신유정)


X years old, Sophomore at Seongjong University Film Department, 167 cm tall. He is in a severe nervous breakdown and unable to testify at the beginning of the series.

Yujeong Shin has an inferiority complex as he tends to view the other victims as "popular kids" and tends to not be heard by the others.

He and Junho are not members of the Film Club, when he joined the others at the Contra Studio Tour.

See Yujeong Shin.

Taeyeon Oh (오태연)


24 years old, Junior at Seongjong University Film Department, 164 cm tall and blood type B.

Taeyeon Oh as one of the older students in the group tends to view herself as a leader. However, this thinking also leads her to make unilateral decisions without informing the rest of the group, including her actions regarding hiding her phone or insisting that she be the one to keep the cutter knife. She feels the responsibility to look out for the other females in the group, although she frequently calls out on others for not being appropriately grateful.

She is an intern at the Contra Studio. She claimed her bosses did not allow the others to bring personal belongings, including phones to the studio. She chose the date for the tour, which was unfortunate.

She hid a phone and secretly recorded conversations.

She deleted a recording of her and Junho before the investigation confiscated her phone as evidence (Episode 20).

Spoiler Episode 26

It was decided that Taeyeon would hide the box cutter somewhere safe for them to use incase the couple upstairs became hostile.(Episode 26)

See Taeyeon Oh.

Cheongnok Lee (이청록)


23 years old, Sophomore at Seongjong University Film Department, 182 cm tall and blood type RH-A.

Cheongnok Lee is hotheaded and prone to violence, as demonstrated by him physically threatening violence at Juntaek Song. He also is good at bringing levity to a crowd, as he makes silly jokes that has the other victims laugh.

He is president of the film club that met in Contra Studio.

He was dating Yun Kim.

He is from a wealthy family that owns a hospital. He is able to retain a lawyer during the investigation.

Interestingly, out of the four survivors that testified after their rescue, he is the only one without the hollowed face.

Spoiler Episode 26 After episode 26 revealed the discovery of used candy wrappers, it is likely that he had another source of food.

Spoiler Episode 27 It is revealed that he was possibly strangled by Junho after being caught eating. Wheather or not it was Junho or a mimic is unknown. (Episode 27)

See Cheongnok Lee.

Hanna Jeong (정한나)


22 years old, Sophomore at Seongjong University Film Department, 158 cm tall and blood type O.

Hanna Jeong has a personality that makes her appear abrasive to others, including when she calls out on others or makes accusations. Despite this, she is fiercely loyal to her close friends, Cheongnok Lee and Hyeseong Baek, and will take actions to defend them.

She is considered by the investigation as a reliable on the water partner alibis due to her memory and getting most of the partner pairings correct with her testimony (Episode 14).

She testified to the investigation that Juntaek asked Yun to get water with him (Episode 3).

Spoiler Episode 22 This was later proved to be a lie by the recordings obtained from Taeyeon's phone (Episode 22).

Spoiler Episode 27 She lied to Cheongnok that Juntaek was the last person to get water with Yun before she died, leading Cheongnok to attack Juntaek. She publicly lied about Juntaek, because she wanted to remove suspicion that Cheongnok killed Yun. However, she was confused why Cheongnok would attack Juntaek, when she assumed that Cheongnok knew she was telling him a lie.

See Hanna Jeong.

Seongbin Han (한성빈)


23 years old, Sophomore at Seongjong University Film Department, 175 cm tall. and blood type B

Seongbin Han is class president. He is remarked as "dark" (as in "gloomy") by Hyeseong Baek (Episode 15). He appears to want to avoid conflict.

He is pointed out by Yeonghwa Ju as someone who is not telling the truth in their testimony (Episode 2).

See Seongbin Han.

Daegeun Park (박대근)
Jeongdo and Yeongchae's colleague.

Prosecutor Yunseong Choi (최윤성)


Yunseong Choi is nicknamed the "Prince of the Western District Prosecutor's Office" by Jeongdo and Yeongchae's colleague for his good looks and reputation. His family is known for being prosecutors (Episode 6).

He is in a relationship with Yeonghwa Ju.

Bohun Shin (신보헌) and Seungun Na (나승운)
Spoiler Episode 25 Bohun Shin and Seungun Na are the introduced names of the supposed couple that called out to the victims from the floor above.

Bread


Cheongnok Lee had carried nine pastry breads, which were distributed among the victims. In Episode 14, the complete list of receipients of each type of bread was revealed. One cinnamon bread was found to be partially uneaten.

The uneaten cinnamon bread had saliva from Yujeong Shin and sweat Hanna Jeong. (Episode 17)

Cell Phone(s)


Cheongnok Lee's cell phone. It is later discovered that Taeyeon Oh also carried a hidden phone.

Tumbler
Cheongnok Lee's tumbler of coffee. The victims used the tumbler to collect rain water for drinking.

Spare Battery
Cheongnok Lee's spare phone battery. The battery is lost, and later found with some of its energy discharged.

Cheongnok Lee's shirt
Cheongnok's Lee's red colored shirt covered in blood.

Forensic analysis revealed that it was covered in Junho Ko's blood, Yun Kim's hair, skin cells, and blood, and Hyeseong's blood. It also had Juntaek Song's fingerprints, Taeyeon Oh's skin cells, body fluids and skincells. (Episode 17)

See Cheongnok Lee's shirt.

Cutter Knife
Cheongnok Lee's cutter knife. This knife was found inside Junho Ko's decapitated head.

Events of the Contra Studio Incident
First 24 Hours after the Contra Studio Incident


 * 2 Hours and 30 Minutes after the incident: Cheongnok contacts the rescue operation on his phone. (Episode 11)
 * 3 Hours after the incident: Cheongnok distributes the pastry breads among the victims and Seongbin is given Cheongnok's phone to record each victim's name and blood time (Episode 3), (Episode 11)
 * 13 Hours after the incident: Cheongnok's spare battery is discovered to be missing. Yun discovers the adjacent area with drinking water (Episode 3)
 * Yun and Hanna get into an argument revolving around Cheongnok (Episode 6)

1 Day After the Contra Studio Incident


 * Cheongnok's phone runs out of battery, so victims are in complete darkness (Episode 12)

2 Days After the Contra Studio Incident


 * Seongbin finds the spare battery, but it's not fully charged (Episode 12)

3 Days After the Contra Studio Incident

Hanna reaches out to Yun to get water together as an opportunity to make amends, at the insistence of Hyeseung (Episode 23 / 24)
 * Yun angrily yells at the victims to stop their annoying whispering, which confuses everyone, except Yujeong who states he hears whispers as well (Episode 19)
 * Spoiler Episode 23

4 Days After the Contra Studio Incident


 * Yujeong and Yun state that Junho already got water with him, when he tries to go again (Episode 7)(Episode 15)

6 Days After the Contra Studio Incident


 * Yujeong states that Hyeseong already got water with him, when she tries to go again with Seongbin (Episode 7).
 * Seungbin announces to the group that Juntaek already got water with him, when he tries to go again with Yujeong (Episode 15)

8 Days After the Contra Studio Incident (Yun Kim's death)


 * Yun's dead body is found by Cheongnok (Episode 9).
 * Taeyeon reveals her secret phone to the rest of the victims, when she uses it to illuminate Yun's dead body (Episode 9 / 10)(Episode 12).
 * Hanna whispers to Cheongnok that Juntaek went with Yun to get water when she died (Episode 13).
 * Juntaek reaches to touch Yun's dead body. Cheongnok attempts to attack Juntaek, but is instead beaten up by Juntaek (Episode 13).
 * Taeyeon's phone is broken when she is pushed and drops it (Episode 13).

10 Days After the Contra Studio Incident (Hyeseong Baek's death)


 * Hyeseong Baek's time of death.

12 Days After the Contra Studio Incident (Junho Ku's death)


 * Junho Ku's time of death.

14 Days After the Contra Studio Incident


 * Juntaek is found unconscious by Seongbin, moments before the rescue team arrives (Episode 14)

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Chasing Tails 꼬리잡기