CASE FILE · 사건 파일 · CLASSIFIED · 기밀 · HOMICIDE · 살인 · EVIDENCE · 증거
Premium CaseExpert · Dialect Forensics · 60–75 min
외교관의 암호
The Diplomat’s Cipher
📍 The Ambassador’s Study · Embassy Residence · Jongno, Seoul · 11:40 PM
An ambassador lies dead behind a locked door while his own farewell reception glitters two floors below. A voice memo sent at 9:12 PM proves he was alive after every suspect left the floor — or it would, if one word in that recording hadn’t been born four hundred kilometers from the mouth that supposedly spoke it. Your partner has played it eleven times. She needs you to find the word.
4Suspects
4Evidence Pieces
2Chances to Accuse
👩🔬 Partner: Detective Oh Soo-jin — Linguistics Specialist, Seoul Metro Police
Case Overview
The Case File
SEOUL METRO POLICE · MAJOR CRIMES · OPEN
Victim
Han Tae-min 한태민 — Ambassador of the Republic of Korea (ret. posting)
Location
Embassy Residence, Jongno, Seoul · 11:40 PM
What we know
Found at his desk behind a door bolted from the inside. Cause of death: poison in his private whiskey decanter. A voice memo sent from his phone at 9:12 PM told his aide he was fine — and to let no one in. Official theory: suicide, ahead of a career-ending scandal. Your partner listened to the memo once and disagrees.
👩🔬
Detective Oh Soo-jin — Linguistics Specialist
"Eleven times I’ve played that memo. Low voice, muffled — “a man speaking through a door,” the lab says. It’s not the voice that bothers me. It’s one word. This Ambassador gave thirty years of speeches in 표준어 so perfect they used his tapes to train interpreters. Listen to every piece of Korean in this building and tell me not what it says — where it was born."
How to Use This Investigation
Use the tabs above to navigate freely. Evidence — examine Korean clues, click any word to notebook it. The Scene — read the crime scene in Korean. Suspects — study alibis. Partner — read running analysis. Accuse unlocks after 2 evidence pieces examined.
Crime Scene
The Embassy Residence — The Study
Jongno, Seoul · 11:40 PM · The last guests left an hour ago. The residence is silent.
Scene Description — click Korean words to learn them
Physical Evidence
—Study door bolted from the inside — brass bolt, no keycard
—Poison in the whiskey decanter
—Phone face-down — voice memo sent 9:12 PM
—No forced entry or exit
—One glass — the Ambassador’s prints only
What's Missing
?Poison source not found
?Original memo audio file missing from the phone
?No CCTV in the residence wing
?Deputy unaccounted for, 9:00–9:30 PM
?Voice memo dialect anomaly
Evidence · 0/4 Examined
Four Pieces of Korean Evidence
Open each tile to examine it. Every Korean word is clickable — click to reveal meaning and save to notebook.
⚑ Accuse tab unlocked. You have enough linguistic data — but examine all 4 for the full picture.
Evidence Examination
Word Breakdown — click to add to notebook
👩🔬
Detective Oh Soo-jin
Linguistics Specialist
Suspect Files
Four Suspects
Read each alibi carefully. Cross-reference with the linguistic clues in your notebook.
Four diplomats, four alibis, one recording that lies. The physical evidence won’t crack this — the memo will. The 고마 slip that no Seoul tongue produces. The condolence sent before the body was found. One suspect’s birthplace explains the dialect; the same suspect’s timeline explains the premature grief. Follow both threads — they knot around one name.
Partner Analysis Log
Oh Soo-jin's Field Notes
No evidence examined yet. Go to the Evidence tab and start reading.
⚠ Formal Accusation
Name the Killer
Select the suspect and the linguistic proof. Both must be correct.
✗ Wrong. The physical evidence is inconclusive on its own — you need the linguistic proof. Review your notebook and try again.
Step 1 — Select the killer:
Step 2 — Select the linguistic proof:
Verdict
The Killer
📋
Kang Ji-ho 강지호
Deputy Chief of Mission
The Linguistic Proof
The 9:12 “proof of life” memo contains 고마 — Gyeongsang dialect for 그만 — a word the Seoul-born Ambassador never once used in thirty years of recorded speeches. Kang Ji-ho was born in Busan and spent two decades scrubbing the port city from his consonants; impersonating a dying man through a door, one word of home slipped out. His 11:05 PM text — 돌아가셨습니다, past tense, certain — left his phone thirty-five minutes before anyone found the body.