. . .

❝ We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will. ❞

. . .

TEARS BLINDS AREUM AS SHE TURNS, running as quickly as her legs can carry her, bolting down the alley. She quickens her pace, the pounding noise of her shoes resonating off the walls of the alley with a loud echo that matched her throbbing heart inside her chest with the thick fear she felt while running.

Heart pounding, rasping throat, leaden feet, and heavy legs, and unable to go on, she stops. Areum wheezes as her burning lungs gasps for air. Her legs felt numb, unsteady, and painfully sore. She leaned her head on a tree beside her and squeezed her eyes shut, feeling like someone had taken a knife to her skull.

She couldn't breathe, it felt as if someone was choking her. Her heart was racing and all she wanted to do was curl up into a ball and wait for someone to save her. But no one would, no one was there.

Areum hadn't thought it was harsh as it was, just like she thought nothing of killing anything in her path, but seeing the look on a normal human's face reminded her she'd been close to losing what humanity is.

A choked cry for help forced itself up her throat, and she felt a drop run down her cheek. It seemed as if this was the end of the road for her.

Areum whimpered, putting her knees into her chest, shaking. She never wanted this, it was never her intention. With the ability of hers, she couldn't change anything.

(Lee Jeong Rok, Yu Jin Hee)

"You're here," Kang Sungmo said, looking at Lee Ahn's memorial tree. Ahn stood beside him, holding flowers.

"Why did you leave first?" Ahn asked him with a confused face.

"I didn't want to wake you up," he answered and looked at him with a small smile.

Ahn grinned, "Are you greeting my parents?" He softly said, "I should do the same then."

He walked over to Sungmo's family tree and put the flowers beside the tree and bowed.

"Have you been well? You must've seen from above, but Sung Mo's doing good. He lacks social skills, but he's great at his work. He's clumsy at expressing his emotions." Ahn explained and Sungmo chuckled as he looked down, intently listening to his words.

"He hardly has any sense of humor. But he's got a high-paying job and a house too. So he might be able to get married." His head shot up and looked at him, eyes widen.

"Is that a compliment?"

"You must be aware that he saved my life. It's also him who got me back on track when I was lost. So, I'm going to protect him from now on." Sungmo smiled, feeling a warm feeling inside his stomach.

"I'm only a jobless test-taker who can't even support myself now, but I'll make sure I return the flavor until my last day." Ahn proudly finished with a smile.

The older chuckled, "You mean the favor." He corrected. Ahn turned his head to him and looked back at the tree.

"Oh, right," he looked down at his hand, reading of his handwriting and laughed.

"I tried to memorize it on my way here."

Sungmo chuckled, "You're making your parents wait for too long." With one last look, he bowed and walked over to his brother.

"Me and parents, we don't really need words to communicate." Touching the tree while having a thoughtful look on his face.

"I touched my parent's belongings, but I couldn't get a read," he said with a sigh.

"The memories attached to them must be fading." Ahn nodded at his brother's statement.

"When I finally get to control my abilities, will I be able to read my parent's memories?" He questioned with a frown.

Sungmo glanced at him, "Probably, I will make sure of it," he promised, patting his shoulder.

"Korea's first psychometrist?" Ahn cheered, cheekily smiling.

"When that day comes," he muttered, enough for him to hear, he looked at him curiously, waiting for him to finish his sentence.

"Forget it. It's nothing," he told him.

"Stop coming to the morgue. Give up already," Eun Jisoo complained, sternly looking at Ahn. He rolled his eyes and sighed.

"I'm the one who's frustrated," he snapped, looking at her with anger.

"It's not like I can study this in a textbook," he also added, giving her a hurt expression.

"It's driving me crazy."

"Maybe you lack drive and tenacity." Jisoo objected, bluntly looking at him.

He scoffed, "Why not say that to those studying for the stage exam?"

"Go on. I dare you!"

She sighed and looked down, "Ahn, it's about Prosecutor Kang."

"What about him?" He worriedly asked.

"Well, I think he wants you to help him with something." She trailed off, looking anywhere but him.

"Seong Mo, wants my help?" He repeated the question, raising his eyebrows.

She shrugged, "I'm not sure, but that's what I think. He's the only person you can't read, which means that his mind is closed off." She explained.

"That must made it lonely for him. I'm sure there's a reason behind it too. You may not be the only one who thought that he was alone."

Ahn looked at his brother's back with a small smile. As he was about to catch up with Sungmo he froze, suddenly hearing faint whimpers. He furrowed his eyebrows and looked around to hear where the sound came from.

"What are you doing? Aren't you coming?" Sungmo asked and turned around and met his confused face.

"What's wrong?" He walked towards him. Ahn kept looking around for the sound.

"Don't you hear it?" Sungmo titled his head to the side, shaking his head.

"I don't hear any-" A sound of cries made the pair pause. Sungmo listened closely and followed the sound. Ahn followed his lead and suddenly stops.

He couldn't believe his eyes. There stood a helpless girl, shaking vigorously and silently crying. Her red-brown hair was stained and her face was bruised, covered with blotches. Her thighs and abdomen had been bruised and lacerated.

"Oh my God," he whispered softly, nudging him on the arm. He turned away as his stomach heaves, feeling dizzy and nauseous.

Sungmo turned to look at Ahn and looked down at where he looked and gasped. He slowly approached the girl, his warm hand falling gently on her cold skin. She winces, opening her eyes take in every ray of light and the noises. He pulls away and studies her.

Feeling an unknown presence in front of her she looks up, gasping and puts her knees into her chest.

"Hey, we're not here to hurt you," Sungmo said softly, holding out a hand for her to take. Her armed ached. No matter how she moved them, they were numb. Someone could cut her arms off and she wouldn't feel a thing. She was exhausted and lost. It's been a month since she talked with her aunt.

Slowly she tried to get up but quickly realized how futile she was, she bit her lip to keep from crying out. A sharp pain shot through her head as colorful spots flashed in front of her eyes, it felt like her whole body had been hit by a truck and every movement she did cause some of her muscles and bones to ache.

Ahn's eyes softened and crouched down at her level, "She's in a lot of pain, hyung." He nodded and helped her up to stand. Groaning in pain she started to grab Ahn's arm to help her pull herself way. He gasped as he held her arm. He closed his eyes as he performed a psychometric on her.

"N-No" she whimpered, approaching her mom's lifeless body on the floor. She sank to her knees and sobbed into her mom's chest. Her tears splashed onto her shirt. She placed her head over her chest, which contains no sounds of a heartbeat.

"D-Don't leave me, mommy," she bawled out, trying to gasp for air. Before her brain could register the sound of breaking glass, her eyes are shut tight and a million new knives fell over Areum's exposed skin. She was slammed into a wall as his hands tightened around her throat, and she could hear her aunt shouting at her brother.

"Daewon stop!" Eunah begs, walking closer to the pair.

"Shut up!" Daewon snaps, tightening his grip on Areum's throat, making her gag. He pulled out a knife and jabbed upward under her chin. He could feel her squirm against his touch, but he pulled the knife closer. Her head was throbbing and she was gasping for air.

He pulled away, gasping at his burning hand. She winced, looking anywhere but him. Ahn moves closer to the girl and places a hand on her arm, "What happened to you?" he softly whispered, looking deeply into her eyes. Her breathing becomes more steady and her muscles finally relax. There's something about the gaze of his that makes her at ease yet confused.

"Didn't you hear me?"

Areum looked at Sungmo with a puzzled look. After they found her, Sungmo decided to take her to their place and talk about Ahn's vision, since he accidentally blurted out his abilities. He also told her about the Yeongseong Apartment case, where the fire was started to destroy evidence of four women being killed, the Hanmin Nursing Home incident, which was carried out in a similar fashion to the previous case, and the black suitcase incident where two female corpses were discovered inside a suitcase.

She shyly nodded, "Yeah, sorry, it's just a lot to take in," He looked at her sympathetically, and nodded. She turned to Ahn, who sat beside her, giving her a comforting smile.

"So, you're a psychic huh?" Ahn asked, grinning as he looked at her in curiosity. Sungmo rolled his eyes and sighed. While they walked to their apartment earlier, Ahn bombarded Areum with questions about his visions and started to put pieces together by simply telling her that he's a psychometrist and knew about her abilities.

She chuckled, "Something like that," she replied, playing with the hem of her sweater that Sungmo gave her. His eyes widened and clapped his hands excitedly.

"That's so cool! Hyung, what if she can be in our team to find the culprit?"

Sungmo glared at him, "I think you've said enough now, Ahn. We're not randomly taking in people, and she's not someone we're going to use to found about the case just because she has similar abilities as you," he explained and looked at Areum with an apologetic look.

Ahn quietly apologized and zipped his lips, throwing an invisible key.

"If I'm correct, the Yeongseong apartment case is unsolved, right?" Sungmo nodded, having his full attention on her.

"Ahn lost his parents at the fire after being saved by you, and then he develops psychometric abilities and he decides to use his abilities to take bad people down, which leads you guys to team up and find about the elusive case that's been haunting both of you," Areum elaborated and turned his head to Ahn.

"That's right, Areum, and since you know all of this we can't let you go that easily because we can't have people knowing about this, especially our investigation team. " Sungmo carefully said. She leaned closer to the table, looking at him intently.

"It's easy, you can just add me in the group," she simply told them. Ahn looked at Sungmo with a desperate look and nodded his head.

"She's right, think about it, we can work together! She's a psychic, I'm a psychometrist. This can work, hyung," Ahn explained with a pleading look.

"And either way, you'd like me to help him with his powers," she also added with a knowing look. He sighed, looking anywhere but her.

"I'm just making sure that you can change your mind right now. Once you're in this case, there's no backing down," he said with a stern voice, looking at her with a serious expression.

"I'm in."

"So, what exactly does a human psychic do?" Yoon Jaein asked her as they walked down the busy streets of Seoul. After discussing and doing some agreements, they decided to meet up at a cafe and talk about their plan together.

"Well, I'm able to read, manipulate, and control the minds of others," she explained, almost laughing at her reaction. Jaein looked uneasy and tilted her head to the side.

"Don't worry, I'm not in your head, it doesn't work like that, Jaein." they both laughed and Areum started to explain about her abilities.

Jaein stared at her in awe. She never believed in supernatural and such things, and listening to Areum talking about psychic abilities made her feel weirded out yet excited.

"Wow, it's weird, I don't know what to say," she breathed out, feeling uneasy about the whole situation. Areum smiled, looking down at her shoes, "It's a lot to take in, that's understandable,"

"It's even weirder, even Ahn has some kind of abilities like you, it freaks me out."

Ahn angrily kicked the flower vase, which made Jaein yelp out. As Sungmo was about to leave he stopped at the door, quietly listening.

"Who's there?"

Jaein breath became heavier and her pulse quickened. With shaky legs, she stood up and was met with Ahn's shocked face. He blinked a few times and pointed a finger at her.

"Yoon Jaein? What are you doing here?"

She cleared her throat, "I live here, that's why. It's not like I wanted to eavesdrop."

"Hold on, it's all good, but why exactly do you think I need her to help to develop my powers?" Ahn asked Sungmo. It's not like he didn't want her to help, far from it. It's just that he doesn't have control over his abilities and doesn't know how to use them properly.

"You can decline if you want. However, I want it to be Areum to help you. And besides that, Jaein, you will also be helping both of them to increase their abilities." he answered, looking back and forth between Jaein and Ahn.

"Can you give me some time to think?" Jaein asked him. Ahn crossed his arms and looked away, "I need some time to think too." Areum rolls her eyes and sighed, already regretting that she's apart of the team.

"Leave the thinking to me an Officer Yoon," he said to Ahn and turned back his attention on Jaein.

"If you help me with this, I can return the favor into looking at your transfer to the violent crimes unit."

"With the ability of yours, you can see the knife. However, you can't see if he stabbed someone or if he's holding it to cover up for someone. You just don't know. All you see are a few pieces of thousands, so don't let that get to your head."

"So Cha Areum will match the pieces that I give her."

Areum breathed in the air and exhaled. She stood at the river where the police found the suitcase mystery. Her head throbbed. The situation became overwhelming and she didn't know what to expect anymore. She squeezed her eyes shut and took deep breaths.

Opening her eyes, she almost jumped out of fear when she saw Ahn in the bushes near the river with a tissue stuck on his nose. He crawled his way out of the bushes and panted. He raised his head to the side and looked up, making eye contact with Areum, waving happily.

"Do you think Jaein thought about what Sungmo said?" he asked her, both sitting down at a bench.

She nodded, "She's still thinking about it." she replied staring at her shoes while having a thoughtful look on her face.

"I'm not, I want her to help us."

"Even if she says yes, what is she going to do?" she asked, turning her gaze to him.

"Well, as she said, we're going to do all sorts of things. We don't know what to do or how, but there's a clear reason why we must," he explained.

"And what's the reason?" she questioned with curiosity, trying to put two and two pieces together.

"We didn't exactly meet two years ago. I met her much long before." he pulled out a white box, opening it which revealed a yellow shoe. She touched the shoe and closed her eyes, focusing on her senses.

"Hey, your shoelace is untied. I can't have you tripping up." Yoon Taeha said, tying her shoelace. He looked at her with a soft smile, ruffling her hair.

"Shortly after I became psychometric, I did a read on her. I didn't even know what I was doing back then."

"It wasn't him."

"Then you ask them to let my dad go?"

"My dad really isn't a bad guy."

"For some strange reason, that memory of her lasted for a long time. Now that I look back, I guess I thought my strange ability could be used to help someone." he elaborated, staring at the white box.

Areum was still puzzling, "Wait, so she met you?"

He nodded, "But she's probably forgotten the memory, for me, she's the first client that asked for my help." he proudly said with a grin.

She laughed, "Your first client?"

"A person's memory is like a jumbled up medicine cabinet. Whether I pick up poison or an antidote-"

"You can't tell until you've swallowed it." she finished off his sentence with a smirk.

He chuckled, "You know your stuff." She nodded.

"What about you? How did you know that you had these abilities?" he asked her.

"I had my abilities since I was very young," she whispered, having a sorrowful look on her face. His eyes softened and cleared his throat.

"Forget I even asked. Take your time, Areum." he apologized. She shook her head and sighed.

"No, it's fine, really. I just, a lot has happened and it's not something you want to hear, trust me." she laughed, turning her head to look at him.

"If you were me, what would you investigate?" Ahn changed the subject. She shrugged.

"Think about that. We will do what must be done." Areum paused, looking him like he grew two heads.

"W-We? Dude, we just met-"

"I have a good feeling about you, Areum." he winked, grabbing her hand.

The pair walked back to their apartment and saw Sungmo walking out the door.

"You're leaving again?" Ahn asked his brother.

"Detective Eun's waiting."

"Jisoo?" Areum muttered under her breath, walking behind Ahn.

"Did you take on that case? The body in the suitcase?"

He looked away, "You identified the body. You did, didn't you?" Ahn walked closer to him and laughed. Areum snickered as he started to jump on his brother's back, pleading for him to tell him.

"Tell me! Tell me what you know." the boys laughed, and he almost fell down but held himself closer to Sungmo.

"Come on! You can tell me."

Areum felt a presence behind her and quickly turned around, looking at a couple who were staring at the boys as they were a couple. They looked at me and she mouthed a sorry.

"Sorry, I don't know who they are."

Sungmo pulled Ahn off his grip and watched the couple who was slowly backing away.

"But, w-we aren't."

"Anyways, we'll have to identify soon. That means I have no time to waste with you. Goodbye." he walked to his car while they followed him, "Keep the first witness informed, okay?"

He ignored him and closed the door of his car while Ahn repeatedly knocked on his window, "Mister, c'mon tell me something." Having enough of his antics she dragged him by the back of his shirt and pulled him backward.

"You're really making me regret this, Ahn."

He chuckled, "Wait. I found the body. We're going to stay involved, c'mon" he grabbed Areum's hand and dragged her to his car, ready to follow his brother.

"Woah, Ahn, slow down," she yelled out, quickly putting on her seatbelt as he drove fast, trying to catch up Sungmo.

"Where did you think he went?" he asked her, looking at the road.

"You tell me."

He kept looking at the directions and found his car, driving faster to catch up. Areum gasped as she watched a truck nearly hitting them. She hit his arm, "Hey, Ahn, slow down!"

He looked up and gasped, hitting the brakes. He looked at her, "You okay?"

She nodded, "Follow that truck" his eyebrows raised, "Why?"

"Just do it! I have a bad feeling about this," she said.

He drove as fast as he could and followed the white mystery truck.

"I think he's following, Prosecutor Kang."

He tried to come near him but the truck kept blocking his view. When they reached the end of the road the car stopped. Ahn pulled off his seatbelt and sprinted out the car, leaving a confused Areum back in the car.

"Wait, Ahn, what are you doing?"

"Stay in the car!"

Her breath started to quicken. She started to have a bad feeling. Ahn walked over the truck and looked if anyone was there. When he did, he quickly ran back to the car, following the mystery man.

Areum looked at him as if he's gone mad, "W-What's going on?"

"Call Sungmo hyung, now!" Dialing his number, she put his phone near her ear and waited for him to answer.

"Yes?"

"Prosecutor Kang, some guy followed you from your apartment. We approached, but he ran away," she said with a shaky voice.

He frowned, "What guy?"

"I don't know. We're chasing him right now. We'll call you again." She hung up.

"Guys don't do anything dangerous, come back," he told both of them. When he didn't hear her voice his stomach dropped.

"Areum. Areum!"

Jisoo came running down the stairs, having a big smile on her face, "You're here. The results came out just by now." she said, but he didn't listen and ran out of the building.

"What's up with him? Prosector Kang!"

"God, Ahn, slow down I think I'm going to throw up," she said, holding her seatbelt for dear life. he ignored her and continued to drive faster.

"Okay, Areum, we're close, look out if you can see his face." she looked out, but she couldn't see anything, only darkness.

"I don't see anything, we need to follow him faster."

Areum gasped, "Ahn, look out!" His eyes widen and pulled out the side, driving behind the truck.

"Goddammit, why can't I see his face?"

He put the brakes and ran out of the car, "Ahn, don't go, it's dangerous." she got out of the car, shivering as the cold air hit her. Ahn walked over to the car door, the man nowhere to be seen. When he turned around to look for Areum he was suddenly met face to face with the man and pushed him against the car, pushing the knife deeper into his stomach.

"Ahn!" Her eyes widen, feeling pain on her stomach, gasping. Ahn shook his head, "Get back, Areum, don't."

Ahn's heart dropped and looked at the man, "Who the hell are you?" he shakily went to his mask, trying to take it off but was stopped when they heard people shouting. The man pulled off his knife and ran away as his life depended on it.

Ahn groaned in pain as he slowly fell down, letting his body hitting the ground with a thud. Nausea crept from his abdomen to his head and the world went black. She sank to her knees and held his face in her hands while ignoring the burning pain in her abdomen.

"Ahn, hey, look at me, hey!" she lightly slapped his face. She didn't hear the ambulance. Her eyes started to become blurry of her tears, so did all the sounds and smells. His face went pale and limp.

As a strong pair of hands pulled her back into the blinding light of the ambulance, she still didn't move. Ahn's body was put onto a stretcher and into the ambulance with her. The van stank and it numbed her nose and choked her. A paramedic sat beside her, checking her.

"Ma'am, are you okay? Did you get hurt?" She shook her head, biting her lip to prevent herself from breaking down. It was nothing the paramedic could answer, not when she could physically feel his pain.

Sungmo and Jisoo ran towards the ambulance car to look for them. The paramedics pulled out his stretcher and went inside the building, heading to the surgery. Areum went out of the van and saw both of them. Sungmo walked over to her and put a hand on her waist.

"You're not hurt are you?" his worried eyes stared deeply into her eyes.

She shook her head, "I think something's wrong with me because I can feel his pain, Sungmo."

He grabbed her hand and followed the others, "Ahn, stay with me," Jisoo cried out.

"That man was following you."

"Stop talking. You're losing a lot of blood." Sungmo croaked out.

"He's been watching you for a long time. Even on that day when we jumped off the apartment, he was there."

The three were stopped by the doctors and were left in the hallway. Areum ran her fingers through her hair stressfully and sighed. She sat down on the nearest chair and groaned.

Jisoo crouched down on her knees, patting her shoulder gently, "Hey, you're okay, it's going to be okay." she comforted her, giving her a genuine smile.

"He didn't injure his vital parts, so he should be fine." Areum came in with an ice bag on her side. The pair turned around and Sungmo walked over to her.

"You feeling okay?" she nodded, "Peachy, but I'll handle it."

"The surgery went well too," Jisoo also added, turning her head to Sungmo.

"Proscetor Kang?" He zoomed out of his thoughts and cleared his throat, "Dr. Hong must be waiting for us.

"Let's go."

As he was about to leave he turned to Areum, "Um, do you mind-"

"Watching over him? Sure. Do what you guys need to do." He gave her a thankful smile and left with Jisoo.

She put her ice bag down the table and walked over to his bed. He felt his body stir and he opened his eyes, taking in every light, groaning.

"You're awake." He slowly turned his head to her.

"You're lucky. No major organs were damaged, so the surgery was quick. Prosecutor Kang and Jisoo will be back soon," she softly said, sitting down the chair beside him.

"Are you okay, though? I saw you fall down, it was like you were stabbed too?" he worriedly said, watching the ice bag on the table.

She shook her head, "Don't worry about me, I'm fine." she reassured with a tight smile.

"But I do have to tell you something," Areum said, nervously playing with her hair.

"Sure."

"I saw it too," he furrowed his eyebrows, "Saw what?"

"Your vision, when you touched him, it was like a movie was playing in front of me, and when you were stabbed. I felt it too," she said, sighing for the millionth time. Ahn tilted his head to the side.

"That must be why I felt a burning pain in my hand when I first touched you," he muttered under his breath, but she heard it.

"So what, we're somehow linked?"

"I think so," he said as silence took over them.

"You've identified the victim?" Sungmo said as the pair walked over to Dr. Hong.

"The victim inside the suitcase, what's her name again?" he asked her.

"Don't you remember?"

"It's Kang Hee Sook." he froze.

"The caregiver of the care home who disappeared after it was set on fire two years ago?" Jisoo asked them, eyes widen.

"Yes, the lady wearing the ring whom An read with his abilities."

"I saw a woman. She was wearing a ring."

"But she's not wearing one." Jisoo pointed out.

"It's not the ring that is off here." Dr. Hong said.

"What do you mean?"

"The math just doesn't add up. It makes no sense that she was alive two years ago. This body has been dead for at least 4 to 5 years." she finished.

"It's hard to estimate time of death with bodies found in the water."

"That's right. However, we have another body to compare it to. In my professional opinion, I conclude that the time of death, cause of death, and the time they were disposed of are identical." she speculated.

Jisoo shook her head, "That's absurd. The record states that she worked at the care home two years ago."

She nodded at her statement, "I checked over and over again because of that reason. This body died before the Hanmin Care Home fire."

"You checked her fingerprints, so there's no doubt that she's Kang Hee Sook. "

"Then who's the Kang Hee Sook that worked at Hanmin Care Home two years ago?"

"And that's what we're going to find out."

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━━ 𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄 ;
here's the first chapter, folks!
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