List & Kiss

The Hands Of Fate
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Chapter 7. List & Kiss

“Got what you need?” The nurse greets Taeyeon and Bambam again as they both leave the garden. The perfect-white-teeth grin is still there on his clean-shaved face.

“Probably.” After handing Taeyeon the key, Moonbok practically went on shut-down mode. Nothing Taeyeon said could coax another word from the man. Showing the key, Taeyeon is hoping she gets another clue. “Do you know what open to this key?”

“Maybe.” Raising his eyebrows, the grin now turns into a suggestive smile.

“Well?” Bambam, clearly annoyed by the nurse's antic, presses.

“I'll tell you guys in one condition.”

"Condition?" Brows knitted, hands on hips, Taeyeon is ready to fume. Bambam's amused look doesn't help her mood at all.

"Yessss. Help doesn't always come for free."

“This is a police investigation.” Bambam turns from amused to stern in a flash. “Either you helpl us or I put you in jail for obstruction of justice.”

“Aww, fierce.I just want a chance to have a dinner with you.” Poking Bambam on the chest, the nurse pouts.

“Not funny, noona.” Bambam grimaces behind the steering wheel. “You shouldn't give him my number.”

They are in the car now, with a a tin box on Taeyeon's lap. A tin box the nurse got for them from Moonbok's room. A tin box that open to the rusty keys Moonbok's has handed to Taeyeon.

“Funny for me.” Taeyeon rummages through a few old photographs she has found in the box. “That hunk of a nurse practically asked you out on a date a few minutes after you accused me of attracting him. Oh the karma.”

"Karma is a ."

“Whoa, watch your language there, Junior detective." Laughing, Taeyeon holds one photo to the light.

"What if he actually call me for a date, noona?"

"Get over yourself. He needs your number to contact us if he finds important information regarding our case not to give you a booty call.” She adds rather triumphantly.

Bambam lets out a displeased grunts while Taeyeon just laughs. Her hand finds a thick notebook filled with symbols and she shows it to her partner. “Written in code. Do you know how to read it?”

Igniting the engine, Bambam looks closer to the open notebook then just shakes his head. “Chanyeol will solve it in no time. That nerd.”

“Yeah.” Taeyeon captures the first two pages with her phone then sends the photo to Chanyeol. A slip of paper falls down from the book and she immediately picks it up. “A list.”

“A list?”

“In Hangul. Some contains of three letter. KDW. KNR. JYH. KKB. KKH. LMJ” Taeyeon reads the list out loud. “And there are these two, YJ1 and YJ2.”

“Another code.” Bambam starts to back the car out of the parking lot. “Let's bring it to the hotel and see if we can decipher it somehow.”

“Yeah. Chanye-” The proverbial light bulb suddenly goes off in Taeyeon's head. “Wait. Bambam. I think I know what this list is about.”

“Really? What is it?”

A car honks from behind their car, probably upset because the only exit is practically blocked. Bambam immediately presses the gas pedal, bringing them out of the retirement house complex.

“This list will probably open a way for us to solve this case, Bambam.” In utter excitement, Taeyeon takes out her pen and starts scribbling on her note. “Look!”

Bambam takes a quick glance at the note as the car hit the road. A new hope flashes in his eyes. “Whoa. This is game-changing, noona.”

They discuss the new finding all the way to the hotel, up until Bambam opens the car door for Taeyeon. “The guy that honked behind us in the parking lot. I think I've seen him before. In your apartment.”

“Huh?”

“Orange hair. Silly choice of clothing. Why would a man wear polka dots pants?” Bambam shakes his head. “Doesn't he live in the same floor with you?”

Jiyong.

Taeyeon's heart skips a beat.

“It finally starts to add up.” Chief Sooman, finallly looking less gloomy than he was few days ago, stands in front of his men in the briefing room. “Something happens twenty years ago. Admiral Lee and Lieutenant Jang were involved. Also these 8 people on the list, where three of them has been killed by the same gun.”

“Four.” Taeyeon moves the laser pointer in her hand so that the red dot lands on the enlarged image of the list on screen. “Our fourth victim, Lee Donghae is actually Kim Kibum. Facial recognition software matched his face with the picture we found at the foster home.”

“Only by 65%.” Chanyeol interrupts. His words successfully makes the chief raises his eyebrows at Taeyeon.

“Lee Donghae had the same scar like Kibum, on the right arm.” Taeyeon defends her theory. The corner of her eyes catch Kwangsoo ready to defy her. She beats him to it. “I know the scar on Donghae's arm can be caused by any sharp object. Not specifically a knife like Kibum's. But this is too much to be just a coincidence.”

“Fine.” The chief pinches the bridge of his nose. “What else? Is Jang Moonbok truly a dead end now? ”

“Yes. That poor man can't help us any further." Taeyeon shot the Chief an apologetic look before continuing. "Bambam and I tried to find more information at the ROKN headquarter while in Gyeryong. The crews from FF 953 Chungnam that worked under Admiral Lee in 1996 mostly have passed away. We managed to contact a few who still alive but none could give anything other than that they were patrolling near the North Korea's border those days.”

“I think they know something but refused to tell us because, how do I put it, they respect Admiral Lee as the captain of the ship.” Looking annoyed, Bambam speaks up. “So with four people on the list ticked, there's strong indication that the rest might be the next targets.”

“Or the killer.” Taeyeon adds.

“Or killers.” Kwangsoo chirps in, earning himself a glare from Taeyeon. The thought of running after one serial killer is burdensome enough. No need to remind her of the possibility that the killer might not be working alone.

“Our next focus is to find the other four people.” Taeyeon brings attentions back to the screen. “The names on the list. KWN for Kwon Nari, JYH for Jung Yohan, KKB for Kim Kibum, LMJ for Lee Minjun are all dead. We need to know who KDW is and find where KKH, Kwon Kihong, YJ1 and YJ2 are.”

“We believe that YJ1 and YJ2 represent the two girls from the foster home, Ara and Areum. Chanyeol is currently running facial recognition software on the picture of these two girls, see if they have matches on our database.” Bambam exchanges a glance at Chanyeol who swiftly take over the explanation.

“The thing is picture from the foster home is old. Matching a blurry face to the millions we have on database is not as easy as finding the match percentage between two face. We might end up with more than a single match.”

“Worth a shot though.” Kwangsoo chirps in again.

“If I have enough time to try it.” Chanyeol sighs. “The software doesn't work like magic wand, it takes time. Also, Detective Yang is shoving a 48-hours surveillance video down my nose, ask me to identify nearly two hundreds blurry faces for his case.”

Taeyeon looks up at the Chief, hoping he can help.

“Hyunsuk's case is more important at the moment.” The Chief speaks after a moment, deflating Taeyeon's hope. “It's Blue House. Everyone in this country wants to know who has the gut to put a bullet into our first lady.”

“Can you at least run Kihong's picture?” Lifting a picture they have gotten from Moonbok's tin box so everyone can see, Bambam shots Chanyeol a pleading look. “This one is less blurry.”

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Sillysesame
I'm so sorry. Update will be delayed for a long while until my workload lessen. Please be patient.

Comments

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39baekyeon #1
Chapter 13: Oh my god, how can i missed this after so many years! Glad i have a chance to read this. Thank you authornim, you did a great job!
ijsreyes
#2
Chapter 15: I love this so much. I didnt know you were the one who wrote then they were three? I read that first. You know what you did to me? You made me feel like i were watching a kdrama. It was so weird i would ask myself, what was I doing, what was I watching again? It turned out i was reading your fanfic earlier. And i havrnt watched kdrama for a month or 2 now.
linhlavievu #3
Chapter 14: Hi author :D I just discovered this fic and read everything in one go. Such a good piece of fiction. I love how concise and how thoughtful your story is. Such a great way of writing crime fiction. Thanks so so much <3 Now I'm on to Stephanie hehehehehhe
full_moon
#4
Chapter 14: Author... Thank you so much!! Such a great story with amazing plot!! I really love it!
zacky123 #5
omo omo omo!!!! i didnt know that Stephanie has a prequel!! i gotta read this right now!! N.O.W!!!
adelliew1919 #6
Chapter 14: This is a very exciting piece of thriller with love.Gosh, you got me hook with all your works. Reading non stop looking sleep too. Thks for the effort!
Coccchanel
#7
Thank you, author-nim, for a great story! It was really entertaining and well-written! I really couldn't stop and read it from cover to cover, so to speak, in one go. Addictive, to say the least!
Coccchanel
#8
Chapter 12: Man, at first, I was worried for Jiwon… now, after all the clues, I'm not surprised about what's happened…
Coccchanel
#9
Chapter 7: Oh man, this gets more and more interesting - I can't stop reading! ôwô
Coccchanel
#10
Chapter 6: Something tells me, as well, that things are going to get worse .-.