IN HIS MIND, luck and intuition were the things that he believes made him stop and glance towards the unlit alley between the apartment lease and convenience store. Only then when Jonghyun found Taemin did he realize that he was holding his breath and making his shoulders rigid. He never felt so relieved in his life until now, after all the thorough searching and interrogation he did for the whole day.

“Taemin?” he calls out to catch the attention of the boy sitting on the murky ground, worried about how he looks in this late night. As he took his step, he cannot fathom how Taemin managed to stay in the dingy corner where the distinct sour smell of rotten food claims and stays on his senses. He steps forward with a hand reaching for the blonde kid but Taemin flinches and still kept his head buried between his knees.

The officer scrunches his nose and squats near the teen, careful not to dirty his clothes. “Hey. Look kid – we were all worried about you. Now let’s get you cleaned up, alright?” Jonghyun pats his head and gestures him to take his hand but the actions seem not to make Taemin budge.

“ this – I have no time for this,” he thought.

Impatient as he is, he grabbed Taemin’s left hand and roughly stood up, seeing the younger one’s dirt-smeared face and glaring eyes pooling with fear and panic. Jonghyun continues to be lost and awed at how Taemin’s eyes seem to send him a message but is then planted flat back to consciousness when he felt something bite his palm that held the boy’s left hand. He retracted his hand in haste and checked for any marks. When he found none, he gripped Taemin’s hand tighter than before.

“Trust me, I will not hurt you,” he assures Taemin as he squats back down again to maintain their eye level, “We won’t go back to the precinct.” He saw the relief flood the teenager’s face immediately. “We won’t go there. You’ll stay in my home in the meantime, okay?”

The assurance made the younger one nod quickly, standing up without Jonghyun’s assistance. The officer almost chuckles at how Taemin reminds him of the dog he owned in grade school but then squints his eyes when he notes that the dour and foul smell of the nearby dumpster clung into the boy’s skin and clothes.

He led Taemin outside of the cursed corner and nods in the direction of his motorcycle in front of the store, letting him ride first. Jonghyun raises his hand to silently say to the teen to wait. Grabbing the phone from his pocket, he texts Onew and Key in the fastest speed out of excitement and relief, telling them that he has found Taemin.

After sending the message, he sighed deeply and kept his phone hidden again. Jonghyun then smiled brightly at Taemin.

“You’ll love what Key will cook!”

From: Jonghyun

found d kid. hes a ing mess. ill take him home. just ask questions l8r.

KNOWING that Taemin is safe, Onew releases the heavy breath that seems to be restricting his relief. One of the problems has been temporarily addressed and now, he only has to wait a bit longer in the records room longue of the S.K. Bureau of Investigation.

When he was about to take a short rest and close his eyes, a moody Madame Gyun shrills and complains at what she found. It seems that Onew unfortunately took the time when the 50-year old woman is in her grumpy state.

“Oh good Jimmy, you don’t know how many folders and cabinets I have to wrack to find this ancient case!” she slumps into her chair and dumps a stack of folders in her counter. Onew has to stand up to see the secretary beyond the tall stack of files. “This one should be in the archive or better yet, burned! Burned, I say! This is older than the grandmother of my grandmother and look at me Officer Lee, I am not young. Imagine this madness!”

He kept silent and just sat back again, somehow not wanting to be assaulted by the spitfires of an old secretary in a bad mood.

“Eunhwa Police Department shouldn’t even be handling special cases this month. Oh Jinki, just go inside that room and see how I can easily drown in that! There are so much more important cases, recent to be exact,” she scratches her head and fixes the collar of her flower-patterned blouse, “Even if it shocked me, a crime is still a crime, isn’t it? Still needs to be solved…” Madame Gyun shakes her head while skimming over the yellowish and crisp papers of the case.

“Madame, if that is the situation, then why is this case given to ask?” Onew manages to ask the fuming woman who in return, glares at him dirtily.

“You bloke! Don’t say that to me as if it’s our fault! A representative of your department got it here and must have gotten the wrong files!” She suddenly stops looking through the files and raises her eyebrow in Onew’s direction. “ I think you know her. She’s quite pretty and boy, does all of the men even here talk about her! Too bad, she’s already tied with someone. An officer too, I remember.”

The description matches with the person he knows very well but to make sure, Onew asks Madame Gyun further.

“And she looks like a cat, right?”

“Oh yes, dear! Golly, how accurate your description is! Although it seems bad, but comparing her to a cat is filled with compliment from me. Yes, a cat,” Madame Gyun claps and laughs, making Onew think that she loves guessing games too much.

“Is her name something like… Ms. Kim?”

The bad mood that the old woman was in seems to be lifted as she nods and claps again after confirming his guess. Before the conversation goes into an all-out guessing game, he says his thanks and bids his goodbye to the now jolly secretary.

Everything was in a haze, as if his body was in autopilot as Onew tries to find the way into his brain that will lead him into a conclusive answer. Before he knows it, he is already in his couch, wearing the striped pyjamas he received as a gift last year. The TV is tuned into a cooking show but is on mute. Still, his mind is filled with looming questions; answers too far from reach.

Key was the one who got the case?

It might be a mistake but it’s far from her to make an error like that. The case was old enough to be considered dismissed. Anyone sane would know that.

Not unless she did it on purpose.

Eventually, his eyes failed on him and slid close. His body was sluggish from all the work he has done but his brain was still active, still trying to figure out Key’s motives.

Why would Key do that?