Kyungsoo went back and watched all the investigation videos for the fifth time before he finally eradicated everyone from his suspect list. He sat there in silence and twirled a pen between his fingers. 

Day seven since the incident. One whole week. He counted in his head. Chanyeol had not woken up still. And he was dying to figure how deeply the cases connected. The one assigned to him and the one assigned to Tao. Before this they had only been helping each other as friends but now they really joined heads to figure out the identity or some clue to the identity of the killer. 

It was that night that he was woken up by his cell ringing and Tao's jubilant voice exclaimed that Chanyeol had finally gained consciousness. He thanked the stars for this miracle. He had been hoping for this guy to wake up for days now he had been fearing that this would never happen. Maybe it was sign from the universe that he should not give up that soon. He punched the air with elation. Maybe he would indeed bring the killer down, he would put him behind bars after all. 

Kyungsoo drove to the hospital and met Tao, they waited as the doctors shuffled around Chanyeol moving him here and there, running tests and asking questions, administering medicine and whatnot. The other guy looked like he couldn’t quite recognise where he was, like he was still in a daze, half asleep.

 

Kyungsoo was finally allowed closer to him 3 hours later when Doctor Zhang had been satisfied that Chanyeol, beyond the very deserved shock and trauma, was doing fine. As fine as he could after 7 days of coma. Kyungsoo watched as Chanyeol was moved into a separate room. 

 

"Take it easy on him." Yixing instructed, standing over them like the angle of death ready to seize Kyungsoo’s soul the moment he let slip something that was deemed harmful in Yixing's books. 

 

"He doesn't remember much". Yixing had told him before bringing him here. "Dont push him too much if he doesn't remember okay?"

Kyungsoo nodded. To his chagrin. The talk lead nowhere as Chanyeol did not recall much and Kyungsoo didn't forced him to put any strain of his distressed mind. 

 

°~°

 

"Who was that?" Baekhyun asked sitting down next to Junmyeon on the couch his leg bouncing with stress. His eyes searched the other male's face. Looking for answers that he knew weren't there.

"He woke up last night." Baekhyun gasped, and he stood up. 

"Then we have to go Hyung." He moved to the door. 

Junmyeon was disorientated by how fast Baekhyun seemed to move all of a sudden. He was alone with Baekhyun right now, he had sent Sehun to the office to attend a meeting in his stead. He regretted it anf hurried to intercept Baekhyun grabbing his arm to stop him.

"Baek." He breathed. "This isn't the right time."

Baekhyun looked like he had heard the biggest betrayal of his life. His eyes accusing Junmyeon of things he had nothing to do with. He pulled his arm roughly from Junmyeon's grasp. These people would never understand his desperation. Why couldn't Junmyeon see that he had to meet this guy and ask him why he was still alive and his sister was not. He had to ask him to tell everyone to stop telling him that his sister was dead. Because of course he would vouch for this won't he?

"Don't stop me Hyung." Baekhyun said, warning clear in his voice. He had been like that ever since he had broken down on just a foot away from where he was standing right now. He had been rebellious and ready to jump to do anything he could think of. And most of the time it was something very stupid. 

Junmyeon sighed. "Baekhyun please." The detectives might be there, he might be getting a check up, he might not even be in the condition to talk."

"You said he woke up right?" Baekhyun insisted. "If he is up then he can talk. He will talk." He turned to the door again and Junmyeon had to jump over the top of the couch to stand in front of the door to block Baekhyun from opening the door. 

Baekhyun cursed, actually cursed. Very foul words coming out of his mouth. He would force his way through that door. His eyes flicked to the hanging hooks beside the door where his car keys were.

Then Baekhyun wanted to beat himself up for the hint he had just given Junmyeon because the other male had noticed the movement of his eyes and snatched the keys off of their hanging place before Baekhyun could even move a muscle. 

"I will walk there if I have to hyung I swear to god I am going to see that guy who gets live instead of my sister." Baekhyun felt his anger level rising. His head was all blank and there was only one thought in his head. That was to confront the survivor.

Junmyeon's heart ached. He grabbed Baekhyun by his bicep. His lips quivered. He couldn’t watch Baekhyun do this to himself anymore. 

"Stop Baekhyun." Junmyeon pleaded. "For your own sake please don't do this to yourself."

"What am I doing to myself?" His voice broke as he asked this, voice still heavy with suppressed anger. 

"You're punishing yourself." Junmyeon reasoned. "Baekhyun Why are you punishing yourself? ."

Baekhyun's eyer were betraying him why was everything a traitor to him today. He felt tears leak down his cheeks. He was punishing himself now tha Junmyeon mentioned it.

"Baekhyun please." Junmyeon took a step forward and embraced the crying man, letting him sob on his shoulder. He held him and looked at him every now and then to wipe his tears. 

He didn't know how long he kept standing there like that. But he didn’t complain even when his body started to tire. He just let Baekhyun cry. Once Baekhyun had calmed down a little he looked at him, his hands on Baekhyun’s cheeks to make up look up.

"Look, I'll take you there okay? But you cannot rush like this." Junmyeon promised, wiping the tear that fell. "But let's give him sometime he just woke up. I'll take you in a few hours."

Baekhyun still felt very angry and hurt by Junmyeon stopping him but he had absolutely no strength to argue with the older man so he just nodded. 

If Junmyeon didn’t take him by the evening he would sneak out. 

Junmyeon lead him the the bed, offered him a glass of water before busing himself around the house. 

Baekhyun waited, and waited and waited. Each minute going as slow as an hour. It was excruciating. Each second that passed made him more and more mad. Each moment he thought of more negative things. He tried to keep them from his head but nothing was helping. 

After a while he had enough and he pounced to the kitchen where Junmyeon was preparing food. He had a thousand things in his mind that he wanted to say to the older male. He wanted to say foul things and make him feel like he was feeling. But before Baekhyun could open his eyes, Junmyeon put his hand up stopping him.

"I promised you and I will take you. But only if you eat something." 

"That was not the deal." Baekhyun sneered. 

"Well that's the only one I'm offering." Junmyeon challenged. Baekhyun glared at him. He knew somewhere in the back of his head where the other male was coming from but he couldn't find it in him to relate to him right.

Baekhyun knew what Junmyeon was doing right now. If baekhyun was challenging Junmyeon, then he was going to be challenged right back. He sat down at the table begrudgingly to eat a couple bites of the food before declaring that he had enough and going to put on his coat and waiting by the door. 

He was being a to everyone around him and he did not care. 

The ride was mostly Baekhyun trying not to break down at the sights he used to take Baekhee too. He could hardly control his tears ever since the dam had broken to days ago after his last interview with detective Do. 

He hated Do for that. Now he not only had this pent up anger and sadness but it also came out with tears, tears came out when he felt, and before he had locked his emotions in a lock qnd thrown away the key. Now that he was back to feeling again, the pain was just too much.

Baekhyun closed his eyes to keep the tears from rolling down. He opened then only when the car had securely been parked in the hospital parking. He got out of thr car his eyes immediately followed the down track of the setting sun, illuminating everything in a nostalgic sad orange haze. It made Baekhyun feel even mote hopeless. 

But no, Baekhyun was not going to allow hopelessness to swallow him. He will go through thay door and he will command the the guy to tell him what had happened to his sister. He allowed Junmyeon lead the way. He suddenly stopped in his tracks when he saw Minsoek there. Baekhyun leaned against the wall as he waited for Junmyeon to finish his conversation. Baekhyun did not pay attention to the conversation but he did gather that Minsoek was here to attend to Chanyeol and he was heading home before Jongdae came here so Minsoek could go home and rest. Junmyeon offered to sit with Chanyeol until Jongdae arrived. 

Baekhyun did not know what else they talked about. He followed the other male to the door that was Chanyeol's room. Junmyeon raised his hand to open the door but Baekhyun squeezed his hand to stop him. He was suddenly very unsure. Up until now he hadn’t realised that this guy would also have people who loved him but seeing Minsoek so worried had changed his mid a little. This all felt too real. He still felt a load of resentment at the fate of his sister and this dude but a part of him, even if it was small, was willing to cut him some slack.

"Don't say anything harsh okay?" Junmyeon requested as he sqeezed back Baekhyun’s hand. "We came here just to see him, please keep it that way." 

Baekhyun could see it in Junmyeon's eyes that the older felt like this was mistake. He bit his lip and entered the room. 

It was a spacious brightly lit room with a bed in the middle of it. And on that bed between the heart monitors and IV bags laid a tall figure was sleeping. Baekhyun as if in a trance moved towards him. He hadn't imagined the guy to be in this condition. He simply hadn't thought of anything but his own pain until now. 

And why wouldn't he. He would gladly have it be Baekhee who was alive here instead of this idiot. He hid behind the curtain that was next to the bed when the guy on the bed suddenly winced in pain. The hand that the IV was connected to twitching. It seemed like moving was truly an effort. 

"Hyung?" A deep hoarse voice called weakly, it was rough from the lack of use. Baekhyun saw from the small gap in the curtain as the guy opened his eyes a little and saw Junmyeon. He almost jumped when he saw unknown man in his room but he couldn't do anything but twitch feebly and then groan in pain.

"Who're you?" Said the same voice. Baekhyun heard the words slur together and laced with pain. Junmyeon moved to sooth the injured man, placing one hand on his head and one on his arm to keep him still.

"Don't worry. I'm Junmyeon, I'm Minsoek's friend."

"Oh." Baekhyun doubted that 'oh' meant that the guy understood anything. What was his name? Was it Chanyeol? He remember reading it outside of the room. "Where's Hyung?" He asked wincing again.

"He had to go home. He left me here until Jongdae arrived." Chanyeol nodded and Baekhyun almost felt sorry for him. The poor soul couldn't even move a limb.

The room became quiet except the eventual pained expressions on Chanyeol's face along with the hisses he let out. Baekhyun stayed motionless behind a curtain. How could he talk to this man when he was this badly hurting.

"What time is it?" Chanyeol asked. He sounded a little desperate. 

"Its 7PM." Junmyeon answered. "Are you in a lot of pain?" Junmyeon asked and Chanyeol nodded. Baekhyun felt another pang in his heart. 

"Painkiller's ended." Chanyeol gestured to the IV stand with his arm. Then he maneuvered his hand back with difficulty to his side to clutch at it.

"I'll call the doctor." Junmyeon moved swiftly out of the room, with a slight shake of hia head to Baekhyun warning him to not disturb Chanyeol, leaving him alone with this stranger and his wild thoughts. 

Should he do it? Talk to him? Tell him who he was? He almost moved but the sound of sniffle stopped him. He focused on the man again and this time the tears on the man's face caught his eyes.

Okay he wasn't going to ask about Baekhee right away. He didn't get a chance to contemplate on his actions further because he heard footsteps move outside the door then a small creaking. Baekhyun quickly moved to the bathroom the door was open and the light was off and he felt like he was a fugitive running form the law.

There were more sniffles. Louder. Chanyeol was really crying. He heard the door open and shut immediately followed by a new concerned voice.

"Chanyeol what's wrong? Are you hurting. I'll call yixing."

"No. Jongdae" So this was Jongdae. Baekhyun felt bad listening to their conversation but he didn’t want to reveal himself and be like. Hi I forced my way here so I could ask you are here and not Baekhee.

Even Baekhyun felt the cold nature of his thoughts now, he was starting to regret coming here.

"What happened?" Jongdae asked. More sniffled.

"Detective was was here." Chanyeol revealed. "I- " there was a pause and then. "I talked to him about what happened."

"Oh." Jongdae muttered. "They shouldn't have forced you to-"

"They didn't." Chanyeol's voice came out stronger than before now that he started to use it but it was still very weak. "I wanted to help."

"That's what you said then." Jongdae lamented. 

"But I couldn't. Just like then." Baekhyun heard the sorrow and regret in the deep voice holding his breath, were they going to talk about Baekhee?

He didn't realise that he was balling his hands up into fists in anticipation.

"Jongdae." A broken sob. "I cannot get it out of my head."

"Yeol." The other sighed. "I'm really sorry, this is going to be very hard getting attacked like that, i cannot imagine-"

"Not me." Jongdae was cut off yet again. "The girl."

Baekhyun's ears perked up his insides coiled and riled. He wanted to rush out grab Chanyeol by his collar and force him to hurry up and tell whatever he was trying to say. 

"She ... When I was stabbed, before you came. I saw her. She looked at me, in the eyes." Chanyeol cried. "There was so much pain." He said.

"Chanyeol." Jongdae's melancholic voice sounded.

"Jongdae she was dying right there i couldn't do anything." Baekhyun couldn’t breathe, he put his hands to his mouth to keep from making a sound as his own tears came. 

"Jongdae you didn't see her. You didn't see him." 

"Chanyeol. Its okay. You're safe the attacker going to get caught."

"No it's not. He didn'teven let me take a step to save her." The deep voice got even deeper as the sorrow got heavier. "Jongdae, there was a girl there in that building. I saw her when you bright the car over. She was a child. I tried to move but he... " Chanyeol sobbed. Even his sobs sounded like it hurt to cry.

"She was going to die, she did die, I saw it i felt it. Her arm was-"

The door opened then and Baekhyun heard Junmyeon's voice say something .

She was missing a what? What was she missing? Nail? Tooth?

"She's dead." He heard Chanyeol say quietly before the voices cut in to comfort him.

Baekhyun slid down the wall in horror of what he had just heard. He had come here for hope, not for the remaining one to be snatched away like that. How cruel was everyone. How cruel could everyone be. He rested one hand on his mouth biting down hard to keep from making noise and one hand braced against the floor from completely sinking into it.

"I can't have you distressed like that Yoel." Baekhyun presumed the doctor said that. He couldn’t stay in the dark bathroom any more, he felt as if the walls were caving in on him. 

He stepped out and all men looked at him in surprise except Junmyeon. He quickly rushed towards Baekhyun hiding his face in his shoulder as Baehyun sobbed. 

Yixing was very confused at first but the one thing he didn't like was this being stressful for Chanyeol. Before he could say anything he saw Junmyeon lead the other male out of the room. He wanted to follow but the patient came first.

"I'm administering the pain killer now but if you stay distressed like this I will have to sedate you." He said. Injecting something transparent into Chanyeol new IV. He set it up as Chanyeol tried his best to calm down.

 

"That better," Yixing commented. "If you want to heal, its best that you rest a lot, the more stress there is the harder healing will be and you need all the luck and power there is." He said.

 

Chanyeol was already growing tired and sleepy due to the painkiller, he offered a faint thanks to the doctor the strange man in his room already forgotten. 

 

Jongdae and Yixing exited the room together to go find the pair of men that had left earlier. Jongdae couldn't help but feel like he had seen the other man before. 

 

He looked around but Yixing found them before he did so he just followed Yixing. 

 

"Is he okay?" Yixing asked in a concerned tone gesturing towards Baekhyun who was having hard time controlling his panic. 

 

Junmyeon looked at him helplessly before he went back to wiping the other man's tears.

 

Jongdae recalled it then. This was the man he had seen 7 days ago. On the night of the incident in the station. Something clicked in his mind. Chanyeol had said there was a girl. Baekhyun had been at the station. Luhan had mentioned something about Chanyeol's case being connected to another and he hadn’t payed much attention beyond Chanyeol. 

 

He understood. He moved forward, he didn't know what possessed him to talk. "She was your sister." Baekhyun's head whipped towards him. Jongdae sank to his knees in front of Baekhyun chair. "I-I was there." He confessed. "I didn't know she was there." He said, he had thought that scream belonged to the guy in the alley. How could he be offered all the points and yet not connect the dots. He knew there was someone there but he just thought it must be an accomplice or someone he'd already killed. Jongdae should have checked. 

 

Guilt wracked up on his shoulders. How could he have missed it. But back then he could only focus on escaping and after that all his worries rested with Chanyeol being in a coma he hadn’t thought.

 

He looked up to see Baekhyun examining him through his tears. It broke Jongdae's heart. It was a stranger but he still felt like he had failed him. 

 

Baekhyun shook his head. For the first time since learning that there was a witness to his sister being missing ... to his sister being d-dead. 

The word sounded poisonous in his mind, in his mouth.

It was the first time that he felt almost thankful to the man in front of him and the one laying a little distance over in a room. They had tried to help. They had actuall tried to help. 

He had been stabbed when he moved to go save his sister.

Baekhyun felt guilty now. The pain of the finality of his sister's fate mixed with the distorted blame he had been trying to place was too much.

He looked up at Junmyeon pleading. "I want to go home." He felt like a child. He wanted to be a child. Where he would have no worries and he wouldn't be aware of how cruel this world can be.

Junmyeon put his hand on Jongdae's shoulder to pick him up from the floor saying something to him that Baekhyun didn't even try to decipher. And then he was taking baekhyun out of the hospital, into the car and back home, where Baekhyun would now reside alone, forever.

 

°~°

 

They had a lead finally.

Kyungsoo sat in his office waiting for tao to come while he read the notes he had taken while the recorder ran through the slurred words of the man.

"Why did he attack you."

"I knew he was going to do it anyways so i thought maybe i could still reach her you know. Dodge maybe." 

There was a pause to take deep breaths as much as the injured lung allowed.

"But he was way quicker. I thought he was bigger than me so he would be slow but he moved like light." Chanyeol had said.

He was around 6'5 he looked at his notes. 

That was the only information he had about his appearance so far. It pissed Kyungsoo off to no end. The forensic analysis had lead almost nowhere except connecting the two cases. They hadn't found any dna but of the victim. They had found no foot prints either. How bizarre was it that the place was covered in dirt, the best place to leave foot ptrints and yet the killer had left none.

He enjoyed doing this. Kyungsoo read on his notes. Of course he did.

He probably has done it before. Of course he had he kept reading on. 

He has a lot of knowledge about how to cover up, about forensics. Now this was something that lead Kyungsoo to believe that the killer was someone with a forensic background. Or even maybe in police?

The next note was very obvious, this whole thing was a game to him.

This guy knew how to cover up. He would have covered up the entire place made it seem like nothing had happened and yet he had left just enough evidence to allow Kyungsoo to connect the two cases. He felt like he had done exactly what the killer had wanted him to do. Like he had been played with, like he had walked into a trap that he couldn't see yet. It made Kyungsoo's rage boil to no end.

He slammed his diary on the table in anger. He wanted more, he needed more. The time he was taking to figure out the killer's psychology and style was going to cost him someone else their life. He wanted to put a stop to this guy before he had a chance to kill again and Kyungsoo was certain, that this sick was going to kill again.

He wondered what was taking Tao so long to come to him so he decided to call the other male.

"Kyungsoo?" The other sounded breathless. "Ah I forgot to meet you." 

"Nice of you." Kyungsoo quipped sarcastically.

"No, no, not my fault this time. Soo I think, I think the killer has killed again."

"What?" Kyungsoo stood up from his seat. "Why would you-"

"Because i am starring right at the body." Tao breathed. "You need to see this."

 

°~°

 

Two days since Chanyeol woke up, he was allowed to sit up to a certain angle. In fact Yixing had told him that it was good for him if he wanted to keep his muscles strong. And Chanyeol loved his muscles very much. He had spent long years building this body and he wasn't going to let his body shut down to the point where he couldn't maintain it. 

He was so board as he randomly scrolled through his instagram feed. There were so many complaints there from Jongdae's fans that the concert had been cancelled for the time being. He sighed, if only people knew.

Chanyeol could now recall everything about that night he had faced a monster in human form. It was making him very edgy and scared to no end. But he was trying to be brave. The worst feeling came whenever he closed his eyes, he could see those eyes again. That girl, child, screaming in silence for her as he tried to take a step towards her to comply to her wishes. He couldn’t imagine the amount of pain and fear she had been feeling to have looked that broken.

His only regret of that night was not having been able to help that girl. And it ate away at his sanity. He had heard from Jongdae that the strange man in his room the other day was that girl’s older brother and he felt so sad thinking of his eyes two. He had figured out that they were related even before Jongdae had told him. The girl and the boy had the same droopy pretty eyes. And they had both seemed empty of light.

His only solace was knowing that when he had provided Kyungsoo every detail he could remember from the incident, he had not held back one bit. He had even sat with a criminal sketch artist and it took about two and a half hour before the woman had turned the sketch pad towards his and he had felt his heart rate pick up. 

That was exactly the face. Sometimes he wondered how the sketch artists managed to draw the criminals to how close they looked without even have seen their face. It was like magic as he slowly watched Seulgi work on her pad, pencil scratching the paper, the rough sound of it filling the room as the face from his nightmares came alive.

He had held nothing back. He was glad and he hoped that he had been of help. Would they be able to catch the killer now that they knew what he looked like? He remembered Kyungsoo saying something like how this was one of the biggest leads in this entire time that they had gotten. His thoughts ended up on the girl’s family. The brother. Would he be able to feel some sort of closure after this? Would he? Chanyeol sort of wanted to meet the boy again and he had a hunch that it would happen. If the killer got caught. There was a very big chance that he would encounter the man in a court room somewhere and hopefully he and the other guy will watch the killer be dragged away to a cell forever and he would never have to lose a night’s sleep over thinking if the killer would end up hurting someone else much like he had hurt him.

Chanyeol got tired after a while and laid down down on his bed and as he felt his train of thoughts come to an end when an itch started to form under the gauze on his hand that held his IV in place. He begrudgingly rubbed it softly without irritating it to sooth it. He was so tired of being stuck on this bed and feeling itches here and there. He was tired of feeling the rough bandages on his stomach and arms and leg, having them changed every day. He wanted to shower so bag but he was prohibited from doing so. Although Junmyeon did help him clean up as much as he could. 

Lost in his head’s world again he was about to sink into the depth of a pain killer induced sleep when the door to his room burst open loudly, startling him. Despite him not having feared anything or even feeling this before, the first thought in his head was that the killer had come to finish the job, since Chanyeol had seen the face. The second was more rebellious, too late, I already told police everything.

He did not however see any killer there but there was only Kyungsoo and Tao with their guns out and they stopped too when they saw that he was alone in his room. 

Kyungsoo sighed deeply in relief and Chanyeol felt the weight of the situation sink in. it was almost as if they had thought that he was in danger, that’s why they had rushed here. Here heart picked up the pace once again, his breath got a little shorter.

“What’s wrong” he couldn’t keep his voice from shaking.

Kyungsoo put his gun back into its holster. “Station someone outside of this room, I was 24/7 surveillance of this hallway, who comes and who goes.” He ordered Tao. Kyungsoo turned his back to Tao as he kept going. “Examine the CCTV footage and get a copy of it to my office.”

Chanyeol grew more worried at that.

“Chanyeol.” Kyungsoo called his name like they were longtime friends, good because Chanyeol wished he had a cop friend right now to solve this mess. “Did anyone you don’t know came in?”

“Except Doctor Yixing and a few nurses, no.” He answered honestly.

“Tao?” Kyungsoo turned to look behind him again at the other male who was busy talking to some officers. “Tell Yixing that no one except him is allowed in this room. Make sure the people you station know that. Only let his two attendees in. No one else.”

“Why? What is wrong?”

Kyungsoo took a seat on the bench next to Chanyeol’s bed. He calmly and quietly pulled out his phone and pulled up a picture. Chanyeol felt him hesitate and saw the gears turning in Kyungsoo’s head.

“This is a very graphic picture Chanyeol.” He said. “There was another body found earlier today.”

Chanyeol gasped, fear gripping his heart. “Who was it?” He had gathered from the show that was just put up that Kyungsoo thought it to be done by the same killer.

“We are still trying to identify the body.” He said, biting his lip as he contemplated showing Chanyeol the picture. He decided against it for the being, finding it easier to provide the context first. “I think, well I know …” he corrected himself. “It was a message for you.”

Chanyeol’s inside quivered, Kyungsoo must have noticed his fear because he sighed as he put his phone back into his pocket muttering something like, what was I thinking.

Chanyeol chose denial. “Why do you think it was done by him?”

“Because.” He said seriously. “His mouth was sewed shut and there was a message. The killer carved those words into the victim.”

Chanyeol didn’t want to hear no more, he didn’t was to listen anymore, his head was already spinning. Mouth sewed shut.

But then again it wasn’t surprising, with the grizzly details that he had seen with his own eyes that still make him feel sick each time he saw even a drop of blood.

“This is what it said.” Kyungsoo handed Chanyeol his diary that he took notes on. He had jotted the message down on a separate page.

“You already know me. Snitches will get stiches.” Chanyeol ready out loud, he closed his eyes trying not to panic.

Kyungsoo took the diary back and it felt from Chanyeol’s hands. “Don’t worry.” He offered a little reassurance. “I will make sure he can’t hurt you. Even if you gave us the information, you will still be needed for the court proceedings. We can’t lose you.”

Chanyeol wondered for a silly moment if that was the only reason his life held importance now. “He killed someone else just to get a message to me?” he could feel the tears pricking the corners of his eyes. 

“Chanyeol, I will catch him, I will make sure he pays for each life he took.” Kyungsoo empathized. “And each person he hurt.”

Chanyeol put all the gratitude and bravery he felt into his gaze when he looked at the detective again.

Kyungsoo explained to Chanyeol what sort of protection he was going to be offered while he was in the hospital and that he would still be kept an eye on when he finally went home. Chanyeol felt much more relieved but it did not ease his worry when he thought of his friends. What if they got hurt next? They didn’t have protection like he did.

“I have done my damned best to not let this case go public, it has been very hard, I ask of you to keep quiet about our conversations. If this got out we will practically offer the killer a bacon telling him to be more careful and then we will never catch him making a mistake.” Kyungsoo explained to Chanyeol. “This sort of guys are mostly caught when he get to wreck less and over confident. We don’t want him knowing how much we know okay?”

Chanyeol offered a week nod as he swallowed all the Intel.

“If this plan works, he will be walking right into our trap.”

He damn well hope he did and that Kyungsoo offered him no mercy when he finally got his hands around that monster’s neck. 

“Until then I can only offer you some men to make sure you are okay.” Kyungsoo stood up and bowed a little before taking his leave.

“What if he hurts someone else?” Chanyeol asked when Kyungsoo was about to open the door. His hand resting on the door knob. He saw Kyungsoo’s shoulders hunch for a moment before they were taught with tension again. 

“I will not let him.” He promised more to himself than to Chanyeol and exited leaving Chanyeol to reel with the afterthoughts of their ‘talk’.

 

***

A month and a half had passed at a snail’s pace for Baekhyun, each day felt like a torture fest. There was no escape from his thoughts and his life. He was stuck in this world that would offer him no closure, no solace, no relief from this pain.

Somewhere after the third week he had started going back to work, but he had been so jumpy, flinching every time someone called his name that Junmyeon had allowed him to work from home. He still went to the office every other day to keep from going crazy in this house. The walls ate at his mental health.

There had been no new lead in the case. The police had gather all the information they could, and not according to them, it was mostly a waiting game. They had told him that they were going back and forth to find something of use but there hadn’t been anything.

Baekhyun finished his work for the day, looking at the time and cursing, it was so late.

He stood up from his chair and grabbed his work bag, shoving the papers and notes on his desk inside. There weren’t much. His productivity had dropped to the ground after coming back to work, he felt so useless, and maybe Junmyeon hadn’t fired Baekhyun yet because he looked at him as a charity work. Baekhyun shook his head.

He exited the building and headed towards the parking lot before remembering that he had chosed to walk 4 miles to his office today because he was needed to feel fresh air. He cursed at his past self for choosing more misery and refusing Junmyeon and Sehun when they had both offered him a ride back home on separate occasion. 

He thought of calling one of the two but then thought the better of it. They must be sleeping, his thought as his phone illuminated showing him time.

It was around one and the only one left in the building were the security members. Baekhyun sighed heavily, feeling tired and wanted the ground to swallow him up, he felt like he could melt right there, his muscles feeling like jelly at the mare thought of the long, long walk.

It wasn’t that long. He used to go on morning runs with Baekboem. He was used to excursion but ever since he had passed away Baekhyun hadn’t even bothered exercising even a little. He could feel the lose now as he felt his legs cramp from the walk.

Maybe he should start going to gym again.

Baehyun felt his phone ring in his pocket around 3 O'clock, right as he was about to turn the block where his house was at.

He picked up the call knowing who it would be, without seeing who was calling.

"Junmyeon Hyung." He greeted. "I'm on my way home, I'll call you when I reach home. Im only 5 minutes away." He did not bother keeping the tiredness out of his voice.

"You should not be out so late." Junmyeon cautioned. Baekhyun could practically see the disappointed look on the other's face.

"You better call me when you get home or I'll come there and kick you ."

"Okay." Baekhyun agreed not even realizing what he was agreeing to.

Baekhyun breathed a sigh of relief when he could see his house. He went around the white pick up truck that seemed pretty old and into his house.

He hung his coat and keys on their places and...

What was that noise?

Baekhyun craned his neck looking around before disregarding it completely having remembered to call Junmyeon.

He called Junmyeon and put his phone on the counter before pouring himself a glass of water and downing it in one go. 

There was that noise again.

"Hello?" Baekhyun once again got distracted. He picked up his phone from the counter and raised it to his ear.

"I'm home." He said shortly. 

"Oh good." He could hear Junmyeon's voice go from stressed to relived. Baekhyun treasured moments like this these days. It reminded him of all the things he had to keep living for and that people really did care for him. 

"Did you not sleep Hyung?" He asked Junmyeon when he noticed the tiredness.

"I was waiting for you call." He replied. Baekhyun almost felt guilty for making Junmyeon go through this. Junmyeon was literally acting like his potential mother these days. 

It was then that baekhyun heard the noise again, he turned around in alarm, it had been quite loud this time. The house however remained dark as he stared at the direction of his room.

Only darkness answered back. 

He heard Junmyeon say something but he was very apprehensive right now and the darkness was feeling like it was growing, coming out of the room, Baekhyun knew it was only his imagination. 

Ever since the tragedy he had been very sensitive to being alone and surrounded by the darkness.

"Baekhyun? Baekhyun? Are you okay?" That brought his attention back.

"I'm fine." He breathed. Turning around and carefully taking a knife off of the shelf. He felt very uneasy. 

He would feel much better if he kept a weapon on him tonight. He didn't know how that would help against the demons in his head but it would.

"Should I come? You don't sound fine to me."

"Hyung no! Its okay." He forced his voice to be calm. Hadn't Junmyeon done enough for him already? He did not need to bother him anymore. 

Before he could offer more l, he thought he saw something move in the darkness, the fear came back tenfold hitting him square in the chest.

He wasn't alone here.

He had not imagined the noise.

"That's it I'm coming." He knew he had missed something again and felt almost glad that Junmyeon was coming because he was very, very scared right now. He felt like he was going to choke on it.

All hair on the back of his neck had stood up. And barely a moment later it happened. 

Baekhyun felt pain lace his heart as a pang of fear cut through it at the sight of a man jumping out of his room as if darkness itself vomited him out. The man pounced straight at him. Baekhyun screamed in alarm and dropped his phone, bringing the knife up to defend himself. 

But it didn't work. He was too late, too disoriented by his fear to do anything. His attacker managed to hit Baekhyun on the temple with something heavy and he fell. Pain exploding in his head as colors flashed behind his eyelids. He heard a crunch through the darkness that came over him momentarily and knew his phone was gone. He blindly reached his hand up to get a hold of his attacker to know where he was because the flashing colors would not let him see.

However a kick to his face brought him face to face with the floor.

Pain flared in his wrist making his hand slacken around the knife that he didn't realise he was still holding.

What was happening? 

Who was attacking him? 

He groaned as he tried to yank his hand free, he wanted to turn and look at his attacker.

A rough hand came around his hard and pulled his head up roughly making him gasp for breath a whimper escaping him. The man who attacked him was massive. Baekhyun could hardly move under him. He was strong as well because with barely any effort the man turned Baekhyun’s body so he was lying with his back against the floor as he thrashed around with all his mignt. His small hands however were caught in a vice like grip and pinned over his head with only one hand. 

Baekhyun used his legs instead to kick his attacker who was not expecting that. Baekhyun took the moment to land a solid kick to his face and rolled around standing up. He ran to the door, if he made it out he'll be safe, but before he could take even one step, he was thrown to the ground again and this time when a hand clasped him hair it was much rougher. Baekhyun felt his head being lifted, his own hands around the attacker's to make him let of of his hair. It hurt so damn bad, he wanted to sob. 

He as face to face with a horrible looking man with a crazed look on his face. Baekhyun blanched. He pushed the other man away with one of his hand before the attacker slapped it away harshly and he felt it go around his neck and squeezing.

"Stop struggling and it will be easy." Offered the attacker in a sadistic voice.

Baekhyun wanted to vomit but right now all he could do was clutch at the hand on his throat he didn't even realise that the grip on his hair was gone. The attacker grabbed his hands again. Baekhyun writhed under the killer desperate for breath. But the grip did not relent. 

Then he was slammed back into thr ground with so much force that he out.