Dictionary: 
Sawasdee: [ Thai greeting ] 
Sabai Dee: [ How are you in Thai ] 
Sabai dii khap: [ I am well being spoken by a male in Thai ] 

The very next morning, in the room, better deemed as the detective's office, which was wrapped in the classic shade of white,  sat Jennie Kim as she looked through a bundle of files, containing more statements about Lalisa, the murdered bride who was regarded everywhere as an evil person, who used the advantage of being rich to its fullest. 

Useless— that was the word that kept rummaging through the female's mind as she read the statements. They all said the same old classic thing. Aside from a few, which gave the nicest compliments to Lisa. Jennie wondered if the Manobans donated a building to the statement writer, that made the person write such nice sentences. 

The glass door clicked, before opening as Kim Taehyung slipped inside. He didn't have a blazer on that day, which was quite surprising, considering that he always had one by himself all the time. Erase that, today was nothing usual at all. Normally, he and Jennie would greet each other casually, and then start to think about the case, but today was perhaps different. 

"Good morning," Taehyung awkwardly said, ignoring eye contact as he immediately proceeded to grab a file. Jennie eyed him weirdly, whispering her greeting back. For the next few minutes which felt like years, it was like they were caged. Neither there was attention on the documents nor on anything else. Just sneaking glances, waiting for each other to say something to cut off the string of gaucherie. 

At that moment, it really felt like there is no work left. Bundles of emails were piled up, but the male detective couldn't bring himself to read them. Jennie just kept reading, not wanting to start the conversation, when he finally asked, "What are you up to?"

"Just reading some files," she replied quickly, before once again setting her eyes on the words.

When Taehyung asked if there was anything new in them, then also, without taking a break, the brunette was quick to rush up the response, and avoid any other questions. A tiny bit of guilt piled up inside her, thinking while he was trying to initiate the conversation to ease the awkwardness, she was just brushing it off. 

Another hour later, when it was enough of pretending that she had some important deed to do when it was just reading some alphabets which she memorised already, Jennie whispered, "Why did you leave last night?"

Ring

Taehyung thanked the holy divine powers for letting him escape the question as the two detectives immediately straightened. The brunette picked up the call and then letting it be on speaker just after. Recognizing the number, Jennie spoke first, "Sawasdee, Mr Anchalia. Sabai dee?"

"Sabai dii khap," a heavy and deep voice replied from the other end before switching languages, "How about you Ms Kim? How is the case going on?" 

Jennie awkwardly laughed, before speaking in a low monotone, "To be honest, I've seen much better cases. This one is kind of annoying. We don't get a lot of information, everyone says the same thing and getting new clues has been hard recently."

Mr Anchalia cleared his throat, before replying, and from his tone, the detectives were able to tell that he was smiling, "Well, I guess it's finally your day to be happy. We were able to trace the number who was messaging Lisa continuously. Not only do we have the location, but our team is also already there and trying to trace and the radioactivity and fingerprints."

The minute the words reached the other end, Taehyung and Jennie had brief eye contact, their faces lit with hundreds of emotions like astonishment, a tiny bit of fear, glittering happiness and much more. The male signalled her to reply when he noticed that they're still on call. Jennie weirdly smiled, "Wait, really? That's brilliant. Did you catch anyone yet? No, scratch that. Where is it?"

Taken aback by the sudden enthusiasm for a minute, Mr Anchalia readout, "We tried to trace the number multiple times but we always landed in an isolated area. Finally, we did a search on the whole ground and found that there is an old bunker there. We're positive that it is the final place."

"Wait what an old bunker? Aren't those things so expensive? Only for a rich person to afford," Jennie said, her voice low as a frown replaced the smile on her face. Taehyung walked closer, making a note of something. 

Mr Anchalia nodded on the other end, despite knowing it was just a voice call, before mumbling, "They indeed are quite expensive. Especially the ones in such an isolated area. We think there might be someone living in that bunker. We have not tried going inside it as of now but we can sense some movements here and there."

Taehyung didn't wait for another second, before swiftly entering the conversation as he spoke, "Hmm, you can do whatever you want Mr Anchalia, but please make sure you get that person alive. We really need that."

The response, beaming confidence soon returned from Mr Anchalia's side, "I will try my level best. Also, I wanted to say that it would be a great help if you two could come to Thailand today itself. What we are about to unfold seems like the biggest clue you have got. It is better if you two come with us during the whole operation and sees everything happening. We don't want to keep you away from any clues, after all, you're in charge in the case, and not us. Even one of you would be enough."

Jennie hummed, before replying and hanging up, "That's a good idea. I will discuss this with my partner and let you know about the details. Until then please continue to monitor the bunker and make sure no one enters or leaves it. See you."

Taehyung heaved a sigh which he didn't know he was holding. He grabbed his iPad, thinking that he should mention the plan to Chaeryeon, but at that moment, Jennie interrupted, "I cannot go with you. I think you would have to go alone."

"Why?" he simply asked, confused because to date there was no investigation or operation which either of them attended alone. 

Jennie closed her eyes, her face displaying emotions of sadness, "Remember the appointment scheduled with the Manobans? I have to first take care of that because after all, they're our clients. Then, this Soohyun isn't ready to accept that we cannot take in her case right now. I have to meet her to explain as well. And then, what if you cannot come back by tomorrow morning. That's when Sanya's appointment is fixed, we cannot miss the clues she has to offer either."

Taehyung hummed, "That's understandable. Do me a favour though, since I need to pack. Ask Chaeryeon to make a text message to the CEO of YIN perfumes, Nicha Yontarak that I would like to grab a cup of coffee with her tomorrow, at seven pm."

"I will do that," Jennie whispered before walking out of the door. Despite anything, she could still feel the awkwardness floating around. 

***

The night stars had hovered over the city of Pattaya, as the clock struck one at midnight. Taehyung walked out of the U-Tapao International Airport, noticing how it was much less crowded than the airports he had been to at midnights. Being alone in a foreign country for an operation, without Jennie was a new thing in itself. As he walked out, he saw multiple people waiting outside. He once again looked at his phone which had the number of the number plate of the car, he was supposed to board.

Approaching the car, he found a man sleeping inside. Knocking on the windowpane of the car, as he mumbled to himself, "Mister, please wake up." Although the person wasn't ready to open his eyes. After fifteen minutes, Taehyung nearly slammed his hand on the window, before speaking loudly, "You annoying moron, get up. Who the hell hired you?"

When the man finally fluttered his eyes open, he got outside, yawning as he looked at Taehyung with narrow eyes. Taehyung asked him who he was, as he replied, "Oh I am Fern Ananda. An intern in the Bangkok police department. They sent me here to get some man from South Korea."

"Congratulations Fern, you've found that man. It's me, Kim Taehyung. Now if you're done with your nap session, do you mind taking me to the destination?" Taehyung asked, smiling sarcastically. 

As the detective sat inside, breathing in the gourmand scent, "How long would it take for us to reach?" Fern pointed to the GPS, "It can take about twenty-five minutes if we find traffic. Otherwise, if we take a shortcut we can reach in no time."

Taehyung hummed, sending a text message to Jennie before asking, "Have you been to the isolated area?"

Fern nodded immediately before filling in the details, "Yes, I did. It is a little far away from the city. I was there when we found its location after spending hours on its research. Mr Anchalia wanted to open the bunker right then and there, but we needed your permission to do so."

"That's right. Are there any weird things going around it? Or you got your hands on anything like ammunition or other stuff?" Taehyung asked, also reading Jennie's reply silently. He took a glance outside, noticing the buildings and architecture. Unlike how he read on the Internet, the city was silent and light-less that evening, despite the sky being clear and twinkling with stars. 

Fern mumbled something in Thai, before realising again that Taehyung couldn't understand the language, as he then repeated the same thing in English, "Yes sir, we found multiple explosives near the bunker. We removed all of them already."

The strong scent of gourmand got too much for Taehyung to take as he lowered down the window, "I also heard from another team member, that for the past three hours, you couldn't catch any further movement from inside."

"Yeah, we couldn't detect any sounds being made. There can be only two things that could have happened. First, the person has escaped from there already, or that they're no longer alive," Fern told the analysation. 

Continuing the train of questions, Taehyung asked further, "What does the police force think about this?" 

Taking a turn from the right, where the streetlights barely glowed, Fern responded, "Honestly, half of the branch says that probably the person who lived there is the murderer while the other half believes the person could be hired by the mastermind of this case."

Taehyung cocked an eyebrow, "What side do you agree on?" 

Reading the GPS once again before answering, Fern scrunched his eyebrows, "Honestly, the hiring part. Getting inside the whole damn wedding, with more than one country involved, and all is only possible for someone rich. And surely, someone rich won't live in a bunker in such shabby areas. They would just use the money and reputation to keep removing their name."

That moment, Taehyung suddenly recalled what Fern had said when he wasn't paying proper attention, "You told me that there were multiple explosives planted there. How many in number?"

"I am pretty sure that there were at least twenty explosives."

Taehyung gasped, before whispering to himself "One explosive cost thirty American dollars. That means, the person spent over six hundred dollars on just explosives. Only a rich person could afford this. It's a lot of money to protect an already well-built bunker."

When the car finally stopped, Taehyung stepped out, taking in the view of the place. It was dark, but the moon and multiple lights lit by the police force made it easy to see. A huge bunker stood there, guarded by police forces in all directions. It was dark yellow in colour, with some tree leaves covering its rooftop, with only one door at the front. 

Taehyung approached Mr Anchalia, who was shorter than him, bald with a honey-like skin tone and dark brown eyes. The typical look one sees in an actor who is playing the role of an engineer dad in cliche high school movies. Mr Anchalaia shook the detective's hand, "Mr Kim, it's a pleasure to see you."

"Pleasure is all mine. Cannot even express how much of a help you have been," Taehyung said expressing gratitude. 

Mr Anchalia smiled, "I don't take the credit, gentleman. It all goes to my team. Now if you don't mind, can we start with the operation? It is going to strike two, and we should hurry up."

Nodding, and then starting to observe how the policeman crossed the taped line, with heavy tools clutched in their hands, Taehyung had an urge to record it all, for his partner to see. The policemen tried breaking the door, but when it didn't budge, they took out all the heavy metal hammers and drillers. The night kept getting colder, and all Taehyung could do at that second was look at the moon and pray that the person inside was alive. 

"The door is made up of Zirconium. It can take about fifteen minutes to break it open, the person really was prepared, as it seems. We also analysed the footprint patterns, and we have reached the conclusion that there is only one person inside. Aside from that, we found some trash packets about thirteen kilometres from here. I think the person living in probably collected their trash and then threw it there because the other bunkers in this area are empty," Mr Anchalia told Taehyung, who replied with words of appreciation for the examination done. 

When a man finally came, informing that the door could now be opened, Taehyung turned to the Bangkok police leader, "Mr Anchalia, as much as I appreciate your and the team's hard work on this, I would first like to go inside alone."

Humming before pointing a finger toward two men, who walked near them, Mr Anchalaia said, "I understand you Mr Kim, but it can be dangerous. Its on our shoulders to protect while we're working on this. Therefore, I insist to take two of my men with you inside."

And so, Taehyung entered the old building, greeted with a foul smell that made him put on a weird facial expression. Clutching the gun he had harder, the first room was insane to look at. Taehyung gawked at the wall with hundreds of sim cards attached to it. A calendar was hanged next to the huge wall, with two dates— the thirteenth of August and the seventeenth of September marked with red colour. Taehyung clutched harder, the first was the day that marked the death of Lisa, while the present day was the seventeenth. He walked further, consciously opening the door to another room, but when he saw it was empty, he kept his gun down. Multiple cans of food, with a TV displaying commercials and a wooden bed, were all that were placed inside the room. But then, his gaze struck at the corner, multiple injections kept there. 

Before he could analyse every single thing, Taehyung walked towards the final door, which he assumed to be the bathroom. Once again keeping his guard up before opening it, he slowly opened it. 

And then, the view he had in front of him wasn't so stunning. Scratch that, it was horrifying, to say the least. 

author's note: 

To give ya'll a little spoiler, I would like to say that the killer would be revealed in chapter twenty-five, BUT that won't mark the end of the book, because leaving you all without the backstory would be like ice cream, but there is no cream. 

Now, I would like to apologise for the lack of updates in the past two weeks. Hear me out besties, I had exams, which went kind of terrible at the MCQ questions, but amazing at the long answer questions lol. Anyways, I'm really sorry <3

I will try to update twice/thrice per week now, to not starve you all anymore. Thank you for reading! The next chapter gonna be kinda wild for some reason ??