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Wonwoo knocked on the door leading into Hyein's boyfriend, Yujin's home. He waited patiently although his heart started to beat just a little bit faster, both in anticipation and expectation.

This could be the key to put everything together.

He glanced at Mingyu who leaned against the wall by the door, chewing on his nails. Wonwoo shook his head in disdain. He'd told Mingyu not to bite his nails so many times.

Then he turned to the girls on his right who also stood with mixed expressions on their faces although their discomfort was the most noticeable.

After a while, the sound of the door unlocking got their attention and the heavy, wooden door pulled inwards, revealing a young boy whose facial expression changed as he saw the people standing outside his house.

"May I help you?" He asked and Wonwoo nodded, straightening his coat while and older lady who Wonwoo assumed to be Yujin's mother also came to the door.

"Well hello everyone, of what need could we be to you people?" She questioned with a tray of brownies in her hand who attracted the five outside with its scrumptious aroma.

Wonwoo pulled his coat aside, showing his badge on the left pocket of his shirt. "Hello Ma'am, I'm Detective Jeon Wonwoo, and this is my colleague Detective Kim Mingyu." Wonwoo gestured to Mingyu who pulled away from the wall, standing straight while he crossed his arms.

"We're here to ask your son a few questions about Lee Hyein, his girlfriend."

As Wonwoo stated the purpose of their visit, he witnessed Yujin's eyes widen slightly just before he looked away while his mother's forehead creased, revealing some lines.

She turned to Yujin with a confused expression. "Girlfriend? What girlfriend? You said your girlfriend was Boeun!" Her voice slightly raised as she turned to the girls, pointing to Boeun.

"So your girlfriend was actually Hyein?!" She queried, bewildered by her son's behaviour. His girlfriend had gone missing and he hadn't even bothered to do anything.

She looked at the five outside who looked just as shocked as she and sighed, hanging her head over. "Please come in." She requested, gently pushing Yujin out of the way before stepping back herself.

As they entered the house, a pungent smell attacked their nostrils for just a second before it disappeared and Wonwoo looked around, taken aback by what had just happened.

What was that smell? And why was it so strong?

It certainly wasn't the cookies.

"Let's go." Mingyu lightly tapped Wonwoo on the arm before they all walked into the living room. Wonwoo and Mingyu took a seat on the armchair while the girls and Yujin took the bigger couch.

"I'll go get you all some cookies." Yujin's mother smiled before walking back to the kitchen.

Wonwoo took out his phone, pressing record. "This is being recorded, by the way." He informed Yujin and the girls as well who nodded, replying with a shakey "Okay."

Mingyu brought out his laptop, turning it on and going over to his notes before his eyes darted up to Yujin again. "Okay, Han Yujin, we need you to tell us what you were doing on the 5th of October, 2024."

Wonwoo glanced at Mingyu, a bit surprised by him taking the initiative. He turned to Yujin who scratched his neck, "I don't really remember."

Mingyu sighed, his eyes shifting to the girls before shifting back to Yujin. Something was very wrong. He could feel it. They knew something.

"You don't remember anything you did the day your girlfriend went missing?" Mingyu rephrased his question, feeling the wrath in his body multiply the longer he stared at Yujin.

What a horrible boyfriend.

Yujin's eyes narrowed to the girls beside him before focusing on the detectives again. "I... I didn't find out until the next day like everyone else." He explained and Mingyu had to physically stop himself from rolling his eyes.

"I didn't ask you when you found out, I asked you what you were doing on that day. Do you know they were all having a sleepover?"

Wonwoo admired Mingyu unknowingly as he asked each question with a powerful, assertive and coercive tone. It also made Wonwoo's heart rate pick up and he wasn't even the one being interrogated.

He hadn't seen the side to Mingyu before. It was rather... exciting.

"Oh, that day... I just stayed at home, played games all day." He answered, aiming to seem nonchalant but the sweat that trickled along his forehead said otherwise.

Mingyu scoffed, an angry smirk plastered on his face as he moved over to his files and played the first video there.

Wonwoo's face immediately distorted as he watched the video, the same fury in Mingyu also burning up in him as he tried to keep his cool.

"So who is this?" Mingyu asked, turning the laptop to face the four seated in front of them. In the scratchy, black and white CCTV footage was Hyein getting to Yujin's house that night that she ran away and Yujin letting her in.

Mingyu pressed fast forward once he noticed all their jaws drop except Yujin's which clenched instead.

As he continued, he pointed to the screen saying, "Hyein never left."

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"Are you okay? Or do you need more time?" Joshua inquired, his gaze focused on Seokmin while Seokmin's eyes stuck to the phone on the table in between them.

His eyes flickered to Joshua's face before he sat up, shaking his head. "I don't want to delay you or this case." He answered, picking up the phone and putting in the password.

Wow. They must've been really close.

The phone opened instantly and Seokmin placed it back on the table, rotating it to face Joshua who gently pulled it closer to himself.

He went to her messages first, checking each one she had with her friends. Most were what you would expect a teenage girl to talk about with her fellow teenage girls and boys but something stood out to him.

There was an unknown number at the bottom of the list with a completely black profile picture. His eyebrows creased as he read the last message in the chat.

'Please, don't.'

He tapped on the chat, seeing all the other messages deleted. What had they been talking about? Was this who she was running away from?

Joshua moved back to the chats she'd had with her friends, hoping she had talked to one of them about it.

She hadn't.

He went to her call logs, seeing the same number call her over 20 times and seeing her call the number but get declined every single time.

Someone was threatening her.

He switched to her photos, checking all her most recent videos and pictures. The last being just one video from the party.

Joshua played the video, the audio audible to Seokmin as well. Joshua watched with sharp eyes, hoping to catch anything off.

The video started with the focus on Yunjin cutting her cake then it panned to Soomin and Minjeong with others around them, cheering.

Then it happened. Soomin turned backwards and after that, she turned back to the camera, ending the video with clear panic in her eyes.

Joshua watched the video again, pausing it at that exact moment. He looked at whatever Soomin was looking at and spotted a man who looked older than them, except he was fully covered from head to toe in black.

The only distinguishable point was the tattoo on his arm which was in itself pretty generic already.

But Joshua was sure that whoever it was, was the person who killed Soomin.

Joshua showed Seokmin the text message as he said, "I think Soomin was either being blackmailed or threatened by someone."

Seokmin read the message, his fists balling up as his tongue ran over his teeth which Joshua found a lot more attractive than he should have.

"And whoever it was, must've killed her." He finished his theory and Seokmin's gaze narrowed as he looked to the sky, blinking his eyes rapidly to stop the tears from falling.

It wasn't fair. It really wasn't fair. Whoever this asshole was, Seokmin wouldn't let them go that easy. Whoever it was would have to suffer everything they had done to Soomin in her last moments.

"None of this is fair." He muttered before sighing. Joshua's gaze softened, his eyebrows inverting as he watched Seokmin.

He hadn't known Seokmin for a long time but he felt somewhat connected to him and his heart ached at the view of Seokmin in pain.

He felt bad for Seokmin, for Soomin, for their mother, for everyone who truly loved that beautiful girl because now she was gone forever.

"Would you like anything to drink or eat...?" Seokmin inquired, trying to stay composed. Joshua raised his hand, waving it quickly to say no.

Seokmin nodded, getting up, "I'll get you a glass of water."

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Seungcheol sighed, reading the reports about the victims. It was true. They were all rapists.

All crude, violent, sexual assaulters. They put up a front in the presence of people but in the comfort of their own homes, of their own presence, they became their true selves.

A bunch of fucking monsters.

He wondered if it would be wrong for him to drop the case or for him to expose this information. It would most likely get him sued by the families of the victims but people deserved to know that these men, they weren't human.

They were devils.

"Fuck." He muttered under his breath, his head in his palms, the sight of the multiple papers and reports on his desk disappearing as he did.

The door to his office opened with a loud bang as it hit the wall and Seungcheol raised his head up to see Joshua walk in. They hadn't talked since their little quarrel over Jeonghan which they had masked under the disguise of their respective cases.

"What's up with you?" Seungcheol asked, genuinely curious. Joshua sighed audibly, sitting down and leaning back, his legs crossed on his desk.

"The murderer fucking blackmailed her and I just found out he blackmailed his last three victims as well. What an asshole." Joshua revealed, the disgust and fury in his tone too evident to ignore.

Seungcheol folded his arms on the table as his eyebrows furrowed. "What the fuck?" He cursed out of total shock. Why were there so many fucking pests on this Earth?

People whose only goal in life was to make others incredibly miserable.

"Yeah. I have to catch him before he dares to ruin another girl's life." Joshua said more to himself than to Seungcheol as his head hung back and he stared at the ceiling.

Normally the moments of silence in their office were natural but today it was different. The silence became smoke that slowly choked them to unbearable lengths.

"So, how's your case going so far?" Joshua attempted a conversation, knowing that they were both feeling the deafening and uncomfortable effects of the silence.

Seungcheol shook his head, his eyes raising up to look at Joshua. "It seems like I'm closing in and at the same time it doesn't." He replied, truthfully exposing his feelings.

Joshua nodded with great understanding of Seungcheol's train of thought but something still bothered him. "And Jeonghan? Is he still on your suspect list?"

Seungcheol opened his mouth to respond before going quiet and shaking his head once more, "No, ruled him out like a week ago." He lied.

He didn't want Joshua, or anyone, to know that the Justice Killer was Jeonghan or at least was most likely to be Jeonghan.

He wanted to make sure that Jeonghan was really an evil, cruel killer and not someone who had different motives, motives Seungcheol could only attach to the fact that all the victims were rapists.

He had to dig into Jeonghan's history to understand why he was doing all this.

He needed to know everything about Jeonghan... for the case, of course. Knowing enough about Jeonghan would let him know just how insane he was or possibly, just how smart he was.

"Well, I'm throwing Jeonghan a surprise celebration tomorrow, you can come and amend your relationship there." Joshua informed Seungcheol who remained confused. "Huh? Is it his birthday tomorrow?"

He tilted his head, still focused on Joshua.

"No, he wasn't around for his birthday on the 4th and when he came back, he decided not to celebrate it anymore but I will, before October ends." Joshua explained and Seungcheol nodded, finally understanding him.

"But, where did he go, around his birthday time?" Seungcheol questioned, picking at his nails. "Oh, he went to Mapo-gu, something about his graphic design."

Mapo-gu? 4th of October?

That was around the time and the exact place where the Justice Killer's victim was found.

It only confirmed Seungcheol's already confirmed suspicions. It was true. Yoon Jeonghan was the Justice Killer.

Yet Seungcheol refused to believe he was just a murderer. Just someone that killed because he felt like. He didn't know Jeonghan that well, or know him at all but he did know that he wasn't a monster.

He was... an angel. He looked like one, talked like one and acted like one too.

Maybe this was unhealthy. Maybe he was falling for the exact person he shouldn't have been falling for. Maybe, maybe, maybe.

What Seungcheol was sure of was that Yoon Jeonghan had a reason. He had to. He needed to have a reason.

And Seungcheol wouldn't take no for an answer.

Ⓒ︎OHWAYOHWAYOH
𝕾𝖙𝖆𝖗𝖙𝖊𝖉 - 11/11/2024
𝕰𝖓𝖉𝖊𝖉 - N/A

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