Game of Certainty & Death
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"Are you going to kiss me now? Once again?" Ara asked as she tilted her head to the side. Jimin knew she was just toying with him, but he desperately wanted to kiss her, just like he did the night of the masquerade. It was enough to make him want even more of her. Even more intimate moments like before. However, he shook his head as he grabbed the door handle and opened the door.

He pointed outside and said, "If you want to leave, then go. I won't force you to stay with me if you don't want to. I know I've done enough to you, but you need to know what's happening with the investigation. This concerns you, and your brother really wants you to know. You're part of the family."

Ara scoffed. She turned to the side, not wanting to face him, and passed her fingers through her hair as she said, "Didn't I tell you I didn't want to hear about this anymore? My father died from a hit-and-run. A hit-and-run!"

Jimin was unfazed by her yelling. He knew she felt hurt and couldn't believe the truth, but she needed to hear it. He closed the door behind him, grabbed her hand, and took her to the couch. Then he sat down and patted the seat next to him for her to do the same. Ara sat down, but didn't look his way.

+

Eunha sat inside her car with her legs crossed as she looked out the window at the building in front of her. Sunggyu had driven her there by her orders, but she didn't want to get out of the car. It had been years since she had gone inside the building and she had never planned to go in again. Minho, however, was forcing her to make the trip before he did her any favors. All for the sake of Sarah.

As she walked through the halls of the building, she felt disgusted at the horrors her eyes saw. People with problems. People with disabilities, mental illnesses, and more. It all disgusted her.

"Ugh, it stinks in here," she whined as she walked towards the room she needed to go to. She looked at it and saw the number one twenty-five on the door. She opened it and saw the person she expected to see.

"Mom," she said as she slowly approached her. Sarah was knitting on a reclining chair, ignoring the lady who had walked in wearing the most expensive clothes she owned. She looked down, however, and saw her shoes—red bottoms.

"What a way to present yourself in a mental asylum," she said as she chuckled. "Of course, you'd rather be dead than ugly."

Eunha stayed quiet. Sarah pointed at the seat beside her, signaling Eunha to sit, but she wouldn't. Instead, she stood there, staring directly at her mother. Sarah continued knitting, knowing that her daughter had no interest in a simple chit-chat. She knew her daughter's visit wasn't casual. It had a specific purpose that would end up benefiting her particularly. It had been years since their last interaction, and Sarah knew her daughter was more interested in getting what she wanted than having a normal conversation with her.

Sarah was young and naive when she had Eunha at the age of twenty with a thirty-five-year-old man. The age gap never bothered her. The money was enticing—it was a reward. She could marry the man of her dreams after seducing him for two years. What was Eunhyuk doing messing around with an eighteen-year-old? Well, he liked them young. Sarah was perfect for him.

After a casual meeting between a sex worker and her client, Eunhyuk concluded it was best if he stopped seeking sex workers for once. He knew that if someone saw him, it would all be over. His empire as he knew it—gone. That night, he confessed to Sarah that it would be the first and last time. Sarah wasn't planning on that. She knew who he was, and she knew how wealthy he was. Then, one day to the next, she was out of the sex industry—or so he thought—and sleeping with Eunhyuk daily for free. He called it 'dating'. She called it 'seducing'. It didn't matter. It was two years of it—until Eunha was born. Then, they got married.

"I need your help," Eunha said as her face dropped with embarrassment. Her mom finally looked at her and couldn't help but laugh. Her ball of yarn fell to the floor and rolled over to Eunha's gorgeous heels, leaving her frustrated.

"Eunha!" her mom said in between laughs. "You were the one who placed me here, and now you want me to help you? Have a bit of self-respect, dear. You want to be me, but you can't even reach my level. I know what I do and how I do it. You don't. You can barely reach me."

Eunha stayed silent. She felt her hands turn into fists as she looked directly at her.

"On top of that, you stole my company! Your father's company!" Sarah added. "If it weren't for your careless mistakes, the police wouldn't be investigating Byun Haneul's murder from five years ago! You know, I was very proud of you for finishing my job with the Byun family, but I can't believe the unprofessionalism. If only you weren't so stupid!"

Eunha looked at her, shocked. This time, her words scared her more. Her mother wasn't lying. She had heard the news about the investigation from the radio in her room. The Byun Haneul investigation had started. The public now suspected that it was a homicide. Baekhyun had agreed to reopen the investigation now that they had Namjoon as a witness. Not only that, but there was a specific piece of evidence left out of the initial investigation when the autopsy report was done. It was very crucial to the investigation.

Eunha couldn't stand seeing her mother laugh at her like that. Without uttering a word, she walked towards the door and walked out of the room. During the ride back home, Sunggyu could tell Eunha was upset with the visit she had to make. He overheard her cursing multiple times under her breath and knew he had to do something. If her mother was the one that made her so upset, then he had to do something in order to protect her.

+

"Are you sure you don't remember anything else?" Yoongi asked. Namjoon shook his head as he buried his face in his hands. He was trying so hard, but he couldn't remember anything else.

"No. He just ran away!" he yelled. "He was tall and strong. Taller than me, at least. All I heard was some noise. Maybe muffled yelling? I-I'm not sure."

Yoongi grabbed his notepad and started writing whatever Namjoon said that was crucial for the investigation. Then he looked at Namjoon. He could see how upset the case made him. He could see how guilty he felt about letting that man die. And for worse, that man was his ex-girlfriend's father.

Later that day, Yoongi went to work and sat at his desk in his office. He looked at his papers as he leaned back in the chair and started thinking. The muffled yelling was all over his mind.

"Maybe there was some sort of resistance?" he asked himself. He then looked at the documents he had next to him. It was Byun Haneul's autopsy report. He looked at it and read the cover which said 'Autopsy Report by Choi Siwon'. He looked through the pages but saw nothing important. Everything was normal.

One of his work colleagues walked over to his office and knocked on the door before he walked in. He handed Yoongi a letter as he said, "Anonymous letter. It said to give it to the chief officer."

Yoongi nodded and thanked his colleague as he grabbed the letter and sat down. He opened it and saw the typed print with a message that made his eyes widen.

"Kang Eunhyuk was murdered by his wife, Kang Sarah. She paid a doctor with the surname Choi to administer a drug through his IV. He died immediately."

That was when Yoongi looked at the autopsy report once again to make sure he wasn't going crazy. It stated that the report had been done by pathologist Choi Siwon. Yoongi shook his head, thinking it could just be a coincidence. It couldn't have been possible. He also couldn't suspect someone based on a single anonymous letter. It was unethical. However, he turned to the autopsy report and looked at the small section at the bottom. There was an email address that belonged to Choi Siwon. Yoongi looked at it as his leg started bouncing up and down. He didn't know if it was best to trust his instincts and email him or not, but he did it. He typed in the information and said he wanted to talk to him in person. Then he pressed send.

He sat there and waited.

A couple of hours went by and he was still in his office, waiting for a response. He made a call and asked the forensics team for an autopsy report on Kang Eunhyuk—if there even was one. The young lady on the other side of the phone faxed the report to him and he read it as he waited. He looked at Eunhyuk's report and then at Haneul's. Something was off.

Haneul's report was missing something. Under his fingernails, there was someone's DNA, but it was never analyzed. The report included the intrinsic DNA—the DNA from the deceased, but nothing of the extrinsic DNA—the DNA from external sources. Besides Haneul's DNA, there was another person's DNA that was not included. The report never specified whether the piece of DNA was from skin cells, fluids, or even from a person's hair. It said nothing.

Then he remembered the muffled yelling.

"There definitely was resistance."

Suddenly, an email popped up on his computer. Choi Siwon had replied, and in the email, he said, "I'm busy Monday through Friday, but you can meet me Saturday in my forensic room before four pm. I have a meeting after that."

+

There was a knock on the door at Jimin's office as Ara sat back down. Jimin stood up and went to open it to see Dongwoo outside. Dongwoo smiled brightly, but his smile faded when he saw Ara. He knew he had interrupted something important.

"I'm sorry for interrupting," he said as he bowed and handed Jimin a packet of papers. "Here are the investigation documents that Mr. Min and Mr. Byun are working on. Mr. Min told me to inform you he's on his way to meet with Dr. Choi, the pathologist who did the autopsy report for Mr. Byun Haneul."

Jimin smiled and thanked him as he reached for the papers and skimmed through them. Dongwoo walked away and Jimin closed the door as he turned to Ara. She had heard everything. He kept looking over the information on the documents and then left them on his desk before he walked back to her. He sat down and reached for her hand as he said, "There's something off about the autopsy report, so he's on his way to meet with Dr. Choi Siwon. Do you perhaps know him? He did the autopsy report on your father."

Ara stayed silent as she shook her head. Everything sounded more real by the second. It was like she couldn't avoid it because it was indeed the truth.

"Yoongi found an unknown piece of DNA underneath your father's nails," Jimin continued. "He says it could be from resistance."

At that moment, Ara felt shaken to the core. She looked at him and then at the papers on his desk. It all seemed so convincing. Was it possible that her father had been murdered? Maybe her father had been resisting his perpetrator? Perhaps that was what had happened? Regardless, she couldn't take the thought of the truth being even more gruesome than she thought, so she turned to face Jimin and said, "I-I have to go. I need to process this at home."

She stood up and walked towards the door. This time, Jimin didn't stop her. She walked out and went home.

+

Baekhyun was with Yoongi as they met with Siwon, so his office remained empty. Minho took that opportunity to sneak in, but Baekhyun's secretary was in front of it. He walked over to her and smiled slyly before he said, "Hello there, Ms. Secretary. Why are you still here? Didn't you hear?"

She looked at him, confused, but he continued, "Mr. Byun gave a few of his special workers the day off. Since he will be out the entire day, he let some employees go home early. I'm surprised you haven't left yet. It's a beautiful day out."

"Wait, really?" she asked. "When did he say that?"

"Right before he left, sweetheart," he said as he chuckled. "He said those who worked for him directly can take the day off. I was going to get my stuff to head out. But that's clearly you too, since you work the most with him."

She looked at her papers and then back at him. Believing his words, she grabbed her purse and stood up. She thanked him for letting her know and ran towards the elevator. When he saw her leave, he sneaked inside Baekhyun's office and closed the door behind him. He walked over to Baekhyun's desk and tried to look for something that mentioned Eunha or Kang & Co., but there was nothing. He looked on the desk, in the drawers, the shelf, behind the books. Everywhere. There was nothing.

Then he looked at the painting on the left side of the desk on the wall. He walked closer to it and looked at its sides for a minute. He chuckled as he lifted it and placed it on the floor. As he thought, there was a safe.

He ran his fingers through his hair as he chuckled. He didn't expect Baekhyun to be the type to hide his current cases in a safe, but that's what he thought. The papers were indeed inside the safe. He reached for his phone in his pocket and dialed Eunha's number. She answered immediately and asked, "What did you find?"

"Nothing," he said. "Absolutely nothing. Baekhyun has a safe in his room. He must be hiding the papers in there. I heard earlier today that he and Mr. Min sent some important documents that they were both working on to Mr. Park. I don't know what it is or what's happening, but it might be what you're looking for. Your fiancé probably has a copy hidden in his office."

Eunha let out a sigh of frustration. She knew she was in a mess if Jimin ever got a hold of those papers. She didn't even know what they had, but she knew it wouldn't be favorable for her. If Baekhyun and Yoongi were working together on a specific case, she knew it had to be the Byun Haneul investigation. The reopened investigation that she was deeply involved in.

She then got an idea and said, "I'll place a mole in his office. I need to have him watched. I need to know every little thing he's planning against me. Every fucking thing."

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