e p i s o d e   v i i i

“Yes, I know. I got the call from Yifan. We’ve already got pictures of the crime scene from the forensic photographer and Yixing worked a bit of his magic so Yifan will be preoccupied with a new lead. Don’t rush your examination just so you can move onto the new site, I didn’t hand pick all of you just for you guys to risk missing crucial evidence being hasty. Good field forensics takes time and I know you all are capable in delivering on your own time. Alright. Alright, bye.” Lu Han ends the call and quickly stuffs his cellphone into his back pocket, missing the rather worried look Zitao sends him as he returns to the work at hand with a deep sigh. “Ugh, , I hate getting interrupted when I’m profiling, it totally throws me off my game.”

Zitao fiddles with one of the pens on Lu Han’s desk. “Is- Is everything okay?”

“Hmm?” Lu Han leans back in his office chair to stretch his arms and back, blinking at the intern lazily. “Yeah, my CSI team is just a little antsy knowing that there’s a new crime scene that they can’t get a look at until they’ve cover all their bases at the bomb site.”

“Is that why we’re helping them look at photos taken of the crime scene?” Zitao gestures to the scattered folders of photographic evidence spread across Lu Han’s desk that they’ve been looking through for the past hour or two. Most of them are from previous crime scenes or of the victims of K, but several of them have just been printed out and delivered to them by Jongdae, who spent a solid fifteen minutes whining and complaining to them about all the paperwork Yifan assigned him before Lu Han finally kicked him out.

Lu Han’s brows furrow at the question, before realization dawns. “Oh , I totally forgot that this is your first time doing anything really related to profiling. What we’re doing right now is preparation and observation. Understanding a criminal’s mind, motivation, and personality isn’t something we can easily identify with just a couple of theories or guesses like you see in TV shows and whatnot. To understand the criminal, we have to start out by observing what we have of them: the aftermaths of their crimes. By looking through these photos, we can begin to see not just the characteristics of a crime, but also the characteristics of the person behind the crime. Once we get that foundation, then we can get into the theories and postulating and all the other fun stuff.”

“Ah,” Zitao looks down at the handful of photos he had been uselessly poring over for the past hour or so, most definitely having missed pretty much all of the details that he should have been searching for. “Oh dear.”

Lu Han lets out a soft chuckle at the brief expression of panic that crosses Zitao’s face. “Don’t worry about it. Part of that’s on me, it didn’t really register when Yifan mentioned this being your first time and I think I’ve looked at enough to get a good idea. We can start working up a couple of draft profiles and next time I’ll show you what to look for in crime scenes when you’re profiling.”

Zitao nods, helping the elder clear his desk and reorganize the photos back into their respective folders. “I probably should have said something earlier, sorry.”

“No, no, like I said, we’re all on edge now with everything going on at the moment,” Lu Han waves his hand around in a rather carefree manner, though the crease in his forehead doesn’t go away and Zitao can’t even begin to imagine the true amount of pressure the older must feel under his mask of jokes. “Do you have any questions or maybe things that you noticed in the photos that stuck out to you in any way?”

Zitao mulls over the question for a moment before carefully replying, “Well, the crime scenes seemed very… clean?”

Lu Han raises a brow. “Clean?”

“Like-” the intern struggles to put his thoughts into words, “I know there’s blood spatter from the victim and whatnot, but every crime scene just gives off this air of… composure to it. It feels…”

“Impersonal?” Lu Han offers.

Zitao almost jumps in his seat. “Yes! Impersonal. It’s as though who the victims are isn’t really all too important, but rather…”

“The message the criminal is trying to send,” Lu Han finishes, a twinkle in his eyes.

“That’s right!” Zitao nods furiously, eyes wide, “How do you seem to always know what I’m trying to say?”

Lu Han grins. “Because even if you might have not been looking for details you think were important, you were still able to see the bigger picture and connect the dots to reach the same conclusion as me. And that’s exactly what profiling is all about.”

Zitao’s jaw almost drops. “I- really?”

Lu Han reaches over to ruffle the younger’s head. “Damn, Yifan really wasn’t kidding when he said you were a natural. I better take it from here before you get a chance to really steal my thunder.”

“I- I could never-”

“I know, I know, just messing with you. Jongdae might have mentioned to me something about you being fun to fluster earlier on. Now-” Lu Han pauses to look down at the hurried handwritten notes Zitao has been taking on his notepad since they began. “We’ve established that the victims themselves and their identity don’t seem to hold too much significance in the overarching big picture, but they still hold important information to us.”

“They’re not the… best of people,” Zitao fills in lamely.

Lu Han nods to encourage the boy. “Exactly. They’re actions can all be considered criminal to a certain extent, even if they haven’t been legally persecuted in any sort of way. Jongdae managed to even find a history of domestic abuse on our homeless delivery man from way back to when this whole K thing started.”

“A twisted sense of justice?”

“There’s definitely a possibility, but don’t let it become the main focus of your profiling for this group. Remember, up until the last murder, these have all been organized almost impeccably. And Yixing and Yifan seem to have reason to suspect that the latest murder, while most definitely from K, was both unplanned and most likely committed by a different member of their group.”

“They managed to figure out all of that without your forensics crew?” Zitao can barely contain his awe and disbelief.

“Let’s just say,” Lu Han sniffs, “that Yixing tends to have an eye for these things.”

“Isn’t he our receptionist?”

“…”

“…”

“This is honestly a story for another time, let’s move on for now.”

Zitao’s shoulders sag in mild disappointment, his curiosity of Yixing peaked and unsated. It isn’t as though he’s never noticed the way the rest of his coworkers seemed to respect Yixing more than one would normally respect a receptionist in this field. Even Jongdae is cautious to prank or mess with the Chinese, despite them being friendly lunch buddies. Yixing himself doesn’t do much outside of his receptionist duties from what Zitao has seen when following Yifan around the office. It’s as if Yixing and his real talent lie dormant, the other four perfectly content to keep the subject taboo unless in dire situations. Nevertheless, Zitao quickly tightens the grip on his pen as Lu Han starts to continue.

“Excluding this last murder, we can essentially loosely profile one of the members of K with what we’ve come up with so far. Whether he’s the one doing the dirty work or someone more behind the scenes remains mostly unknown. I’m sure we can look more into that after we’ve established this foundation. Based on how organized almost all of these crimes are, we can assume that this criminal is rather antisocial in personality, has a moral conscience of sorts but doesn’t really show remorse or strong emotional connection to their crimes. Just a bullet to the head, no crime of passion or anything similar. This goes back to that impersonal and loose attachment that we discussed earlier. The victims seem more like tools of communication than anything.”

“Communication?”

“A sort of messed up challenge to the authorities. Killing those that seem to have escaped the reach of the law, kind of like they’re mocking the police for being unable to do their job and punish them. That sort of thing.” Lu Han fights the urge to laugh as he watches Zitao write at an almost inhuman pace, hysterically scribbling as fast as he can to immortalize Lu Han’s words. “Remember, a lot of this isn’t set in stone, just speculation on potential motives and character. Trying to force a suspect into an incomplete profile only leads to the real criminal walking free if we aren’t careful.”

“Right,” is all Zitao can manage as his hand starts to cramp from all the writing. “What about the most recent murder? You said something about it being unplanned?”

“Yup,” Lu Han pulls back out the file containing the photos of the last crime scene Jongdae handed over to them earlier and taps on them. “A disorganized, but still well controlled crime of passion.”

“Controlled?”

“Helps suggest that the one responsible for this murder wasn’t under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or completely emotionally unstable. Otherwise I doubt they’d find themselves a part of K any longer. While it was definitely unplanned compared to the previous crimes, whoever pulled the trigger was still very much an intelligent professional during the kill. The flower bouquet sent to us is different from the other times, where we simply had to wait for a report of a dead body with K’s signature card. This crime was a desperate message of sorts.”

“To us?”

Lu Han frowns in frustration. “I don’t know. There’s a lot of pieces still missing, and it’s impossible to really know if our current profile draft is accurate to a certain member, or several of them. We also don’t know how many people belong to K. A lot of the rest of this will take a lot of work and investigating.”

Zitao nods in understanding. “It’s crazy how you managed to pick up criminal psychology and pathology while you were working on your forensic science degree.”

Lu Han shrugs. “I had plenty of free time and took an interest to both the mental aspects of crimes back in grad school. It’s definitely come in handy in cases.”

“Wow,” is all Zitao can really manage, “I just- it’s such an honor to be working with you guys, I mean, you all are practically the best of the best…”

“Like Yifan said,” Lu Han shifts forward in his seat, staring at their intern with a little more scrutiny. “You’re a natural. Really.”

Zitao’s face flushes in embarrassment. “It’s- It’s an honor…”

“Yifan also asked me to, uh, how do I put this…” Lu Han’s tone lightens considerably, taking on a much softer edge that it had beforehand, “See if you needed anyone to talk to.”

“Huh?” Zitao his head to the side in confusion.

“You know,” Lu Han presses on gently, “’Cause I’m a psychologist and whatnot. You’re such an eager and hardworking kid, but we never really hear about your college friends or social circle and at times you really seem to give off the impression that you’re sort of… tied down to this field. Like the simple idea of fighting crime isn’t your only motivation to working here.”

Zitao has stiffened considerably in his seat, and Lu Han knows he won’t be able to get much out of him with how the younger’s shoulders seem to tremble ever the slightest, his head face down. His reply is choked off, his voice barely above a whisper. “I- I don’t understand what you’re getting at, ge.”

“Tao,” Lu Han leans over and reaches across his desk, placing a cautious, but supportive hand onto Zitao’s shoulder. The shaking stops, but Lu Han can still sense the tension in the intern’s posture. “Just like how plenty of people apply to medical school because they were unable to save their loved ones from a disease or injury, a lot of people on the police force… well, they have their own personal reasons when they choose to pursue criminal justice. And Yifan and I can tell that yours may be worse than most.”

The boy takes a deep breath, and Lu Han just barely catches the single tear that drips off the boy's face and into his lap. “I…”

“Don’t feel obligated to tell us,” Lu Han softly squeezes the younger’s shoulder before letting go and sitting back into his plush office chair, “You don’t need to tell us anything you don’t want to. We just wanted you to know that you aren’t alone in that respect, and that if you ever need someone to talk to about it, you’ve got us.”

“Thank you,” Zitao breathes, looking up at Lu Han with a guarded gaze but watery eyes. “I- really...”

Lu Han smiles at the boy, his eyes warm with acceptance and even... understanding?

"Anytime, Tao. Anytime."

“Borrrred!”

“Oh, for ’s sake, not again-”

“Boooorrreeeedd!”

“Where’s Chanyeol when you need hi-”

“I’m! So! Bored!” Baekhyun all but shouts as he flounces into the living room with a dramatic stomping of his feet, dressed in basketball shorts and a hoodie too big for him- most likely Chanyeol’s. “Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored!”

Kyungsoo shuts his laptop with an irritated click, sending the other a withering look that immediately quiets the other down. “Baekhyun, some of us have genuine lives and work to do.”

“I do work,” the bomber protests, glaring at Sehun when the younger snorts from his spot doing homework on the couch. “I don’t see this rude little piece of doing anything to help bring money into the household either. Besides, Junmyeon’s totally loaded. We’re practically doing him a favor since there’s no way he’d ever be a father, therefore no one to inherit all this bank.”

“I’m on a full scholarship,” Sehun deadpans, sniffing at the elder indignantly, “And at least I’m currently studying how to pursue a career that contributes to society, instead of tinkering around with explosives and whining all day.”

“Wah, Kyungsoo! The maknae’s become so mean!” Baekhyun fakes a sob as the other two roll their eyes. “I want Chanyeol!”

“You always want Chanyeol,” Jongin rubs at his eyes with his sleeve as he shuffles over from the stairs. “All your screaming woke me up from my nap, hyung.”

“Good,” Baekhyun huffs, crossing his arms, “If I can’t enjoy the rest of my day then you all certainly can’t either.”

“So petty,” Sehun murmurs, returning his focus to his physics homework.

“I heard that!”

“Chanyeol hyung went out to meet with someone and said he probably wouldn’t be back until tomorrow,” Jongin says with a yawn, stretching himself across the couch where Kyungsoo is perched, knowing that Sehun will most likely shove him off if he tries with the younger.

“What?” Baekhyun’s eyes narrow, his expression growing rather stormy, a complete 360 from his previous behavior. “He didn’t tell me anything about this.”

“So?” Jongin tries to casually inch his head onto Kyungsoo’s lap to use the elder’s thighs as a pillow. Success.

“So?!” Baekhyun starts to raise his voice and Kyungsoo begins to feel uneasy about the whole ordeal himself. It isn’t like Chanyeol to keep secrets from Baekhyun of all people. “He didn’t even tell me he would be gone or anything!”

Jongin, completely oblivious to the ‘shut the up’ hand signals Sehun is throwing him from behind Baekhyun’s back, simply blinks. “Hell if I know. He just mentioned that he was going out to meet up with an old friend or something when we passed each other in the hallway.”

“Bull,” Baekhyun scoffs.

“I don’t see why you find the idea that Chanyeol could actually have genuine friends outside of us and whatever the kind of relationship you have going on with him so ridiculous.” Jongin says in a rather noncommittal manner, blatantly ignoring Sehun flipping him off from the other couch. Sehun knows that at this point, Jongin is simply playing dumb to rile up Baekhyun. But mentioning Baekhyun and Chanyeol and their dynamic, especially in a more negative light, has never really lead to very good results. “Chanyeol doesn’t revolve around you 24/7.”

Baekhyun’s face darkens and his lips purse angrily. He storms over and in the blink of an eye, has Jongin on the floor by the throat, lips curled in a rather aggressive sneer. “As if you could ever have the slightest ing clue to what Chanyeol and I have gone through.”

He tightens his grip ever so slightly on the younger’s windpipe, but before he can do anymore damage, Kyungsoo’s voice slices through the tension.

“Baekhyun,” comes the stern warning.

Baekhyun’s grip lightens ever so subtly, his face glowering down at Jongin, who appears rather smug despite having been just moments away from potential death. “Soo, you know I-”

“I know and I don’t care,” Kyungsoo pinches the bridge of his nose with a sigh, “You know that Junmyeon won’t be happy if you kill any one of us, even if it’s an accident.”

“Just wanted to rough him up a bit,” Baekhyun grumbles, scowling down at Jongin one last time before standing back up, returning Jongin his ability to take in oxygen properly. “This always knows what to say to piss me off, ing lying about Chanyeol’s whereabouts.”

“I wasn’t lying,” Jongin responds cooly, clearing his throat momentarily before returning to his previous spot on the couch with Kyungsoo. “Chanyeol really did say he was going out to meet an old friend. I don’t know why you find it such a crazy idea.”

“I find it so ‘crazy’,” Baekhyun makes air quotations with his fingers, “Because I know for a fact that Chanyeol’s old ‘friends’ is a reference to his secret military days, and just about anyone that was involved in that fiasco, dearest Jongin, should be dead.”

“Brought you back a blood sample from the new crime scene,” Yixing holds up a plastic evidence bag with a bloodstained swab inside as he throws Minseok a cheeky grin from the lab entrance. “Hand delivered by yours truly.”

“My, you sure know how to woo them,” the elder laughs setting down his clipboard before reaching over to take the ‘gift’, “I think I can feel myself swooning.”

“Don’t let Lu Han hear that, or I’ll be in trouble,” Yixing mumbles, chuckling lightly as he watches the pink crawl up Minseok’s ears.

“Aish, you all-”

“Heyyyy,” Jongdae saunters in leisurely, “Guess who just finished all his paperwork?”

“I’m so proud of you,” Minseok drones sarcastically as Yixing pretends to dab at his eyes with a tissue.

“s,” Jongdae scoffs, though the playful smile gracing his lips says otherwise. “Anyways, since I was done with that weeks’ worth of torture, I finally got a chance to do some other work, and discovered that our phone lines and recording system were tampered with the other night.”

“Huh,” Minseok’s brows furrow, “Did you try tracking the number or the hacker responsible?”

“The number was one of those burnout cells and its location was untraceable. I’m still trying to get past all the defense systems and firewalls that the hacker set up. It’s been a while since I’ve had to deal with someone at this level but nothing like a little challenge, right?”

“Sure?” Minseok offers.

“Breaktime,” Yixing simply sings, spinning around and trotting over to the break room. “Catch you guys later.”

“Okay?” Minseok looks over to Jongdae, who watches Yixing leave the lab with an unreadable gaze. “You good, Dae?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jongdae’s eyes follow Yixing’s figure until they disappear around the corner, something in his gut twisting with an uncomfortable feeling. “Just… thinking.”

How exactly am I supposed to get Yixing hyung to tell me who called him that night and why?

The plot ~thickens~

Hope you all aren't getting too bored of all the fancy crime scene jargon and profiling stuff. I find it pretty interesting and can't help but explain the process a little bit while I write in order to help you all get a sense of the work that M is doing. Real life profiling obvs takes a ton more careful observation and knowledge and whatnot and I just think it's incredible that there are experts that see a gruesome murder site or crime scene and can help identify aspects of the criminal just from that.

It's snowed quite a bit recently so no classes aka time for me to grind out a chapter like this until 6 am. I love ing up my sleep schedule on the daily!! (lol sarcasm) Okay I really need sleep now. 

If you all enjoyed reading please subscribe, upvote, and comment! It would make my day and make me very happyyyyy ^^

Happy Friday!

Less than three,

PalmerPie