"Absolute Zero: Emergency Investigation of Information Crimes" Episode 4 Synopsis Released

Yasuko Sawaguchi stars in the Getsuku drama "Absolute Zero: Emergency Investigation of Information Crimes" (Fuji TV, Mondays at 9pm). The synopsis and stills from episode 4, which will air on October 27th, have been released.

Yoda Kenji (Sato Taketo), an employee of the international nonprofit organization "Human Future Bridge," has been murdered. The Second Investigation Division is investigating the case due to suspicions that the organization had funneled donations to criminal organizations in the past. After hearing the details, Ninomiya Nami (Sawaguchi) and Yamauchi Toru (Yokoyama Yu) ask the coroner for more details.

It turns out that the method and weapon used in Yoda's murder are very similar to those used in two other murders of system engineers that Yamauchi is pursuing. The murders were carried out with a single stab using a survival knife, and it is believed to have been committed by the same perpetrator. If all of these are connected, this could provide a major clue to the true nature of the criminal organization that DICT is pursuing. Yamauchi tracks down the purchaser of the murder weapon.

Nami, along with Kakegawa Kei (Satoshi Kanada), questioned NPO director Sugiura Yoshiko (Kurosawa Asuka). Hearing that Yoda was in charge of accounting, she asked to interview her colleague, but was refused. On her way out, she succeeded in making contact with Miyazaki Eriko (Wan Marui), an accountant, who happened to be passing by. Seeing Eriko's agitated state, Nami decided to make small talk.

At DICT, Shimizu Sae (Kuroshima Yuina) investigates the flow of donations to an NPO. A large donation is discovered from a company affiliated with Kurosawa Holdings, a religious corporation. The cult's leader, Kurosawa Michifumi (Imai Kiyotaka), is someone DICT had previously pursued. Kakegawa is suspicious of Eriko's behavior, but Nami thinks there must be something she can't talk about. An investigation then begins, based on the assumption that "staff members' devices are being monitored by an app."

The drama is the fifth in the "Absolute Zero" series. It is set at the DICT, an investigative agency that investigates information crimes that abuse advanced information technology to threaten the lives and property of citizens. They tackle a variety of information crimes, from special frauds typified by anonymous and mobile crimes (tokuryu) to cyberterrorism, ranging from everyday crimes affecting people's lives to large-scale crimes that threaten national security.