AN: Thank you for the few feedbacks that this story has already received, those are the fuel that keeps me continuing the story, if there would be none..it would make me feel that my small effort on writing is fruitless. So thank you again. Keep them coming, thank you.

I will be adding random characters here and there, names from other k-pop groups. Don’t own them etc…

Chapters might be short. Simply because it makes me more oriented what I write.

Kibum and Minho had chosen to begin their investigation with interviews. Divide and conquer, that was their strategy for now. Kibum himself would take few of Lee Jinki’s co-workers into question as well as random staff that had been marked down in the files while Minho would interview Shim Changmin.

It was highly assumable that faul play was the reason on Jinki’s disappearance and whom ever was behind of it would surface at somepoint. There had to be someone who had seen something, heard something that would finally give the detectives the clue they needed, no matter how small it was, it could be a catalyst.

Walking around the corridors of the University where Lee Jinki had been working Kibum looked around the scene. This was the place where the man had been seen the last time. After five years there would be no visual signs of any clues, rooms had been changed and it looked like as if Jinki’s mere existance had been wiped off. It bothered Kibum a bit, but he understood perfectly. A place like this was just one stop in a man’s life and people would not mourn for a lost man for long. It was human nature after all, people moved on.

The detective took a turn and found an office room he had been directed to when he had first arrived to the building. Knocking on the door he waited an answer before stepping in.

Kibum introduced himself, bowing politely to the older man sitting behind a large desk. The room looked exactly like in the movies of some klutzy nerd professor. Papers askew everywhere, books and folders on the desk and somewhere behind them a small man looking like he knew what he was doing. Kibum chuckled a bit.

 ”Ah detective Kim, thank you for contacting me. I have always wondered how the case is going.  I’m Lee Minwoo, Dean of Literature department.”

Kibum took a look at the man. He was rather short, well built, eyes like creasants and a pleasant welcoming smile on his features. According to the files the man was 38 years old and had just been appointed as professor when Jinki had been assinged as the man’s teacher’s assistant back five years ago. If anyone, this man would know Lee Jinki’s professional side.

Sitting down Kibum begun.

”As it is Professor Lee, we have re-opened the case and taking a new look at Mr. Lee’s disappearance. We plan to re-interview some of the people Lee Jinki worked with as well. Your contact information was on our files and since Mr. Lee was last seen here before he disappeared you are our start.”

”I hope I am not a suspect, you sounded very serious there.” The professor seemed to be smiling yet there was seriousness in the man’s voice. ”But beside that, please ask me anything.  But I’m afraid I might now be able to help in the way you need. I don’t know what happened to Jinki…he just vanished.”

Kibum nodded and opened his notebook, ready to srawl something on it if the man ended up telling him something that was not already known in the case.

”What can you tell me about Lee Jinki, beside his personal information. What was he like, as a person? Did he get along well with the staff? What about students? Did he tell you anything about his personal life? How did you get along with him? Did anything happen before he disappeared, anything at all?”

For a moment the professor was quiet, as if he was trying to gather his thoughts for answers. Kibum gave the man time. He knew he had asked a lithany of questions but he also know that as people answered they might slip out things they did not even regocnize as important events and occurences. It was his stragegy.

Leaning back on his chair Lee Minwoo looked at the cealing and sighed.

”Jinki was…he was a great kid He made my work easy. I had just been appointed here, I did not know many people at the time and since Jinki had already been a student here for a while they appointed him as my assistant. We got along really well. He was easy to talk to, easy on the eye too. He worked hard too. I suppose we were friends rather than just a professor and his aid.” There was a pause.

”Students liked him too, some he helped after classes too. I don’t think he had any disputes with anyone around here. Jinki worked alot , was doing his thesis on japanese poetry as well.”

Kibum listened, some of the professor’s chosen words made him perk up, but he did not make additional questions, only nodded his head signaling for the older man to continue.

”He didn’t talk much about his personal life. I suppose he was afraid I would look down on him. All I know that he was dating someone and then they broke up. Jinki was bit down after that. I didn’t ask about it, since it was personal. It didn’t affect on his work ethic, actually I think he begun to work harder after that.”

Another nod from the detective and Professor Lee continued.

”I don’t think anything out of ordinary happened when it came to him. Jinki was clumsy and absent minded on some things out of the work zone, but it was so often nobody had a second thought of it. I suppose that was how he was all the time. He would come in and complain about having displaced his favorite cd or a how he could not find his lunchbox. He even lost his driver’s licence one day. I told him to go to the police and get it renewed.”

Kibum listened few more minutes on the occurrences of Jinki’s clunsy side, this was a new information, something that had not been written down anywhere. Probably this had been told to the previous investigator but it had been brushed off. It looked so insignificant, but Kibum’s gut told him to mark it down.

Rest of the interview went without new information and soon Kibum thanked the man and exited the office. Next he would find the security guard, who ended up telling the exact same story as he had told five years prior. Lee Jinki had exited the building in the evening and had walked towards the exit gates. That was the last anyone had actually seen him.

Minho was sitting uncofortable in another office chair staring right at a tall man in a suit. High end office building, perfect for a CEO of a curprisingly lucrative company that sold out high design shoelaces. Minho made a mental note to check up the company. Just in case.

However, Shim Changmin was a man with cold eyes and even less friendly attitude. Detective Choi could not fathom why their victim had even chosen this man to be with. But perhaps it was the years that had changed the man.

”I don’t have anything to add to the statement I made five years ago. Why are you even bothering me with this? All I wanted you to do your job, Find Jinki.”

”This is routine Mr Shim. We will re-interview everyone.”

The man sighed and looked at Minho for a moment, before he fell back on his chair.

”Ask anything you like then. I just want him to be found. It bothers me.”

Minho nodded, took a recording device from his pocket and put it on record. ”Just tell me about him, anything that pops in to your mind. I will ask specific questions later.”

Chagmin stated at the detective, he would have assumed the man asking blunt questions, not making him speak out of the blue like this.

”Jinki is..was.. my boyfriend. We met in highschool, became friends and then a bit more. He smiled alot, was a happy person all the time, everyone liked him. He was aklutz though, falling on his feet, a bit messy sometimes, but really into cleaning once he lost something. which was often. He found them all eventually. We had good time together, it was just that when my business suddenly boomed I had no time for him, and when he started working as a TA he had no time for me either. So we chose to take time off. Just untill everything settled.”

That was new. Minho made a mental note of the last sentence.

”Where were you when Jinki disappeared?”

”I was in Japan, with my business partner, we were doing market research. I came back to Korea when I found out Jinki was gone.”

Minho nodded. He had looked into the files, already prosessing the name of Jung Yunho to be added to the list of people to question.

Shim Changmin didn’t have much to tell after that. It seemed that the man was not keen to open up more precicely about his relationship with Jinki, being somewhat evasevi, and Minho made a mental note to keep an eye on this guy. Changmin would continue to be in the list of suspects. He was pretty much the only contact to the missing man for now.