[Review: The Beast Must Die]
[Thread]

This story actually have real forensic facts & elements.

1. Mention of Locard's Principle
It was a pleasant surprised to come across this principle in this BL

Locard's Principle is the fundamental principle in forensic investigation

1/19

For reference, in episode 42, this principle was mentioned/rephrased by Eugene Kwon (the ex-profiler who had just recently join the investigation) while explaining his assessment to Detective Nam at the crime scene.

Locard's Principle means "Every contact leaves trace"

2/19

This principle is the very core for crime scene investigation (&forensic science). It offers connections & relationships between the elements of crime - crime scene, suspect & victims.

3/19

2. The author present the murders committed by Kang Moo (mc) as a "perfect crime" logically.

While in theory this cant happen because of Locard's Principle, in reality, detectives did encounter dead end in their investigation. There's a lot of factors contributing to this

4/19

I will only touch about the aspect limited to episode 41 & 42 in this webtoon.

Few factors that contribute to the hardship faced by Detective Nam & his team while investigating Kang Moo's case:

a. The crime scene was contaminated by the rain (as planned by Kang Moo)

5/19

In real crime scene investigation weather condition is a serious obstacles that hinders the process of preserving physical evidence. It's also a form of crime scene contamination. Any changes on the original crime scene will ultimately change the crime scene reconstruction.

6/19

b. There's no basic lead

Contrary to popular opinion that physical evidence (i.e blood, fingerprints etc) can solve any crime - as popularized by CSI tv series, eye witness is actually an important lead to start an investigation & one of the most important element.

7/19

For context, you can classify evidence into 2 category :

i) Physical evidence : Evidence/objects that physically exist (transfer from crime scene to suspect to victim, refer point 1)

ii) Testimonial Evidence: Verbal evidence or statements from witness, victim, informants

8/19

Now going back to The Beast Must Die, the "perfect crime" that Kang Moo planned & executed were due to the fact that he had eliminated the "Testimonial Evidence" aspect.

This makes Detective Nam unable to even start investigating the case, let alone catching him.

9/19

This also explained why Detective Nam was so desperate to get Lee Kirin (2nd mc) to talk & go to his side. Kirin's testimonial evidence /statements are crucial & a lead to crack the case, as he is the only witness alive & "available" in this case.

10/19

c.The author used Shoe prints as physical evidence for Detective Nam & the profiler to deduce Kang Moo's modus operandi (strategy to commit crime)

Now this one is interesting as the author relate Kang Moo's act of swapping shoes with Kirin by through the shoe size & brand

11/19

This is actually a fact in forensic comparison for shoe prints evidence.

H/ever shoe prints are not a conclusive evidence. It only help investigators to understand the crime at the beginning of an investigation. It cant solve the case as it cant give an identification

12/19

d. The author mention about the lack of hard/direct evidence or incriminating evidence in Kang Moo's crime.

This related back to the Locard's Principle I had explained in Point 1.

This is a clever plot development by the author negl

13/19

e. The author actually shows the process of crime scene reconstruction in the plot. This was execute brilliantly in various episodes. This forensic techniques were shown explicitly in episode 41 & 42 when Detective Nam & the profiler went back to the crime scene.

14/19

3. The Wisdom of Psychopath

Other than the forensic facts in this webtoon, the author get extra points for showing Lee Kirin studying a book tittle the Wisdom of Psychopath, in order to understand Kang Moo's behavior.

The Wisdom of Psychopath is actually a real book.

15/19

The Wisdom of Psychopath is written by Dr. Kevin Dutton.

Dr. Kevin Dutton is a British psychologist & writer specialising in the study of psychopathy.

Personally, this book is one of my fav reference book.

16/19

There's so many things that I like about The Beast Must Die.

Of course some of the facts were rephrased, added with exaggerated elements, few plot holes - it is a work of fiction after all.

H/ever Im really impressed by the commitments & knowledges the author had.

17/19

While the character designs have a Same Face Syndrome (a minor aspect where the author can improve), this webtoon have depths & a solid story

It is one of my favorite read this year due to this facts.

The author put great efforts in creating a very exciting BL thriller

18/19

I recommend The Beast Must Die few times before & Im recommending this again in this thread

I think BL readers that like crime x BL/yaoi story should give this webtoon a try.

Disclaimer : Massive Trigger Warning for various violence.

#lordmuzanamateurreview

19/19

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