Minseok hissed as he applied medicine and Band-Aids to the scratches on his arm.

“Are you sure you’re okay dude?”

Jongdae asked, his face showing concern. They were back at the precinct, at their paperwork filled desks.

“Yeah, I’m okay. But that dog was really vicious, these scratches are deep.”

Minseok had been complaining for a while now, but in a low tone of voice. He didn’t want the other detectives to hear them, since they would definitely be teased for getting a lost pet case again.

The two always tried to get used to it, but it was hard. Just with a simple glance around the room, they could see the busy detectives, with white boards near their desks – filled with complex things written on them – trying to solve their hard cases. Bank robberies, murder, and so many other interesting stories, all going on right before their eyes, but they couldn’t get close enough to touch. Sometimes they felt they would never be there, they would never be important enough to solve a higher complexity case.

And the universe seemed to like putting them down, because at that moment when they were feeling down and insignificant, in enters the most famous and accomplished detective duo of the precinct; Park Chanyeol and Kim Jongin, from the homicide division. It was rumored that they were so good that they could now hand pick their own cases. The two men were very young, but very sharp, and they excelled at everything since the beginning, and their rise to the top was quick.

“Damn… They look cool…”

Jongdae mentioned as he leaned his head over, making Minseok turn to see too, since his desk faced away from the entrance, and he hadn’t noticed the two men coming into the space.

The rookie partners watched with envy as Chanyeol and Jongin walked proudly through the floor, casually greeting people as they passed by, an incredible and effortless cool vibe surrounding them. The two walked straight to the chief of police’s office, going by the glass door and closing it behind them. Jongdae and Minseok continued to watch, mesmerized. They wanted that for themselves; that fame, that coolness; a reason to enter the chief’s office – which they rarely did, other than to get scolded when something was wrong – and engage in an intense conversation about an important case.

“Ugh, this is so annoying! And you know what’s worse? The fact that that Jongin fellow is younger than me!”

Jongdae complained, turning away because he couldn’t look anymore without having his blood boil. With that cue, Minseok did the same, returning to his first-aid kit.

“Yeah? And how do you think I feel? They’re both younger than me!”

Minseok hissed once more, not because of the scratches this time, but because he accidentally closed the box too harshly in his moment of anger and ended up pressing a bit of his finger under the lid.

“I know, I know! Makes me wonder sometimes, if there’s something wrong with us.”

Jongdae sighed as he spoke. The two didn’t quite like that comment. Although it was something they thought of multiple times, they didn’t like talking about it.

“But this experience makes us humble. If we just got to the top too quickly like those two, it would have made us cocky and arrogant. This way when we finally get there, we’ll have a lot more respect for the whole process, and all the rookies will love us because we’re nice and kind to them, since we understand what they’re going through.”

Minseok emotionally responded, trying to bring up the morale on their team. His speech seemed to have worked well, as Jongdae started nodding strongly, a fierce and determinate expression on his face.

“Yeah, yeah! That’s right, you’re absolutely right. We don’t want to be like them, having success handed to us on a silver plate. They don’t k