11

“Sungjong sent me here,” Sunggyu recited, staring the other straight in the eyes. Tablo looked up over his sharp glasses, an eyebrow rising in amusement.

“What’s wrong?” Tablo asked. He placed the newspaper down, gesturing towards a spare seat. The shutters in his office were drawn down, but light still reflected off his shining nametag. Sunggyu sat down, his eyes never leaving Tablo.

“Tell me about the milk abductions.” Sunggyu said.

Tablo frowned, “Have we not discussed this?” He picked up his pen, busying himself with other reports. He waved Sunggyu away.

Sunggyu frowned, “Not the truth Tablo. Tell me the truth.”

Sunggyu noted the tightened grip Tablo adopted on his pen. The chief looked up grudgingly, sighing as he put the pen back down. He gave a heavy sigh. “Sungjong sent you here for that?”

Sunggyu nodded. Tablo sighed again, leaning back in his chair as he massaged his temples. The psychologist waited patiently as the other tried to calm himself.

“Okay Sunggyu,” Tablo said wearily. He stared up at the psychologist. “I hope you’ll keep your voice down throughout this – do not interrupt me, do you understand? Nothing you hear passes this room. Nothing.” Tablo stressed the last word to emphasize its meaning.

Sunggyu nodded vaguely. His eyes were chained to Tablo’s as he held his hands together.

“I’m serious Sunggyu,” Tablo warned. He placed his pen back in the jar.

“I know,” Sunggyu replied. He waited for the explanation.

Tablo’s eyebrows knitted themselves into a frown. He didn’t speak immediately – as if he was waiting for the moment to disappear like a dream. When it didn’t, he murmured in a soft, rueful voice. “The milk abductor, Nam Soohyun, is not in our custody.”

“What –“ Sunggyu started before being silenced by Tablo’s stare. Tablo took a deep breath, his eyes staring steadily into Sunggyu’s.

“Understand, Sunggyu, that my intentions are good,” Tablo assured. “Understand my decision. I want the milk abductor behind bars as much as you do, but there are some things not worth fighting for – chasing, if I may. There is more to this milk abductor case then a few mass murders.”

Sunggyu nodded, biting his lip to avoid his spill of questions.

“We took up this case in July – just after the fifth kidnapping. We had detectives and teams of profilers coming from all over the country to help in an once-in-a-lifetime murder. Never had anyone seen something like this in their lifetime. Even my ex-chief, who had spent fifty years in this business, had never seen anything like the milk abductions. We had teams and teams of people, all working together – or competing, depending on how you saw it – trying to solve this case. They wanted bodies; they wanted clues – and bodies and clues they got.

“It started off as nothing much – an escalation of kidnappings – nothing, they assured us, too surprising. We took their word, and as what they called the ‘cooling off’ period shortened, kidnappings were thrown at us – left, right and centre. Yet they were still so carefully placed – so careful only we could see the increase. Patterns even our prodigies couldn’t solve and so many lives affected for such a useless cause. It didn’t stop us though – myself included. I wanted to solve this case; I wanted to solve it so bad. I threw myself into the middle of this investigation. I was the centre of the news – I spoke on behalf of us all.”

A soft knock was placed on the door. Tablo nodded, motioning for the visitor to enter. Sunggyu frowned at the interruption as young boy hurriedly rushed in, placing a stack of papers on Tablo’s desk. Tablo nodded as the younger bowed, quietly retreating. Sunggyu raised an eyebrow in amusement as Tablo gave him a small smile, his hands quickly flicking through the pages. Once satisfied, he continued.

“The murders continued to escalate, but everyone assured us it was normal. We continued, rather blindly, on this case – never stopping for a break. Working day in and out, obliviously dismissing the lives which were destroyed. Days passed, and nothing seemed to be getting better. More lives were taken, more children were ripped from their families – it’s going to get better, we convinced them, we’ll find the person who took your child. We should’ve known we were adding fuel to the fire.

“It started to get personal. At first it was nothing major – a small time police officer’s boy was taken. That didn’t stop us, but as we continued on, each murder got more personal. It went from small time guests to more powerful figures. Before I knew it,” Tablo drew in a deep breath, “My nephew was gone – just like that.” He snapped his fingers as the sound echoed across the silent office.

Sunggyu nodded.

“There’s something about the milk abductor,” Tablo managed to crack a smile, “He – or she – stopped as soon as we did. People packed up, and the murders stopped. Everything stopped. It was as if – it was as if nothing had ever happened. Everyone was fine – less lives were lost like this,” Tablo paused, avoiding Sunggyu’s glaze. “But what would we tell the public? Our children are dying, so we’re going to stop? How would we look towards them? What about their children? How do you think they would react? Please understand.” Tablo held his head in his hands as he sighed. “I was trying to help.”

Sunggyu collected his thoughts silently, careful to avoid showing the latter. He bit his lip. “What about Nam Soohyun?”

Tablo looked up wearily, “What do you mean, what about Nam Soohyun? Didn’t I tell you?”

Sunggyu shook his head, “No, I mean where did you get that name from?”

Tablo cracked a small, humourless smile. “That’s another mystery itself. One day, I recall, we received an anonymous tip. Nam Soohyun is the culprit, it read. We did our searches – there is no Nam Soohyun.” Tablo paused, “But no one knows that, do they?”

Sunggyu returned a weary smile. He got up, for once, without any complaints. By his own accord, he felt his finger tips brushing against the knob as Tablo clicked his pen, resuming his work as if nothing had happened. Sunggyu opened the door, ready to leave when Tablo looked up, placing his pen back down.

“My intentions may be cruel – selfish even, but I did what was right for everyone.” He paused, an uncommon look of hesitation wavering at his face. “Didn’t I?”

Sungyeol frowned, placing his hands neatly in his lap. Look back, five years – what did it mean? He scowled, subconsciously touching his neck – the exact place Myungsoo had breathed on. It was cold, just like he was. Sungyeol held his head down, ignoring the way his fringe would fall over his eyes, obstructing his view. He didn’t need the outside world at that moment. He just needed more sense than a few useless lines.

He tried to organise his mind. Myungsoo, from what Sungyeol had gathered, was hinting towards the milk abductor. From what Sungyeol knew, there were two. There was the milk man – the driver of the infamous truck, and then there was the qualified doctor – the reason behind the unspeakable scars. Who was Kim Myungsoo talking about? Sungyeol thrashed in his bed in frustration, pulling at his hair. Why couldn’t the experiment give clearer instructions?

What made Kim Myungsoo right anyways?

Sungyeol considered both options. He had to believe Myungsoo was right – he was their only lead after all. He was his only lead. Sungyeol brushed away any doubts as he focused his mind. Myungsoo would know what Sungyeol could access and what he couldn’t. Sungyeol had access, indirectly, to a computer, but he didn’t have access to lists of vehicle owners. The only way to trace a specific milk man would be to trace his van, and Sungyeol had no access to such a luxury. That only left the qualified doctor. Sungyeol frowned. He couldn’t search up every doctor on a mere computer. Did this doctor have a personal website? Sungyeol highly doubted it. He banged his head in frustration. Stupid, son of a –

Missing people.

Sungyeol had it. He could find missing people. He could find missing milk vans too – peculiar things like that were always reported on the news. If he went five years back and searched missing, he would find something…right? Sungyeol clicked his fingers impatiently. He would be forced to wait for Sunggyu’s arrival.

Four hours passed before Sunggyu returned. Sungyeol tackled the older with questions, angrily yelling at him to switch on his laptop. Sungyeol had no time for the other’s useless, time-consuming questions. He only wanted information. Sunggyu complied, revealing a bit of his own research to the latter as they waited for the laptop to start.

“They haven’t caught the wrong guy,” Sunggyu confirmed, pursing his lips. “There’s no one in jail.”

Sungyeol frowned, his eyebrows rising in surprise. “What?”

“You heard me. The police lied. They never caught the milk abductor. They stopped to avoid lives – mostly their loved ones – from getting killed.”

“Not surprising,” Sungyeol replied merely, shrugging, “Humans have always been selfish beings, obsessed with their own superiority.”

Sunggyu nodded. He couldn’t disagree.

Once he had booted up his computer, he opened a search engine. “Okay, I’m on – what did you need?”

“Go on a news site,” Sungyeol demanded, “Go back five years. Type in the word ‘missing’.”

Sunggyu did so and passed the computer to the latter. Sungyeol snatched it away, his fingers hurriedly dancing across the board. He scrolled down pages and pages of missing cows, trolleys and other miscellaneous objects. Nothing which connected to his mystery, he noted as he clicked through the twentieth page. Sunggyu raised an eyebrow, watching the other warily.

“Mind telling me what you’re doing?”  Sunggyu asked, crossing his legs. He stared carefully at the younger.

“Can’t explain why – you wouldn’t believe me anyways,” Sungyeol said vaguely. To be honest, he himself didn’t understand what he was looking for. All he knew was that Myungsoo liked games. This was a game. But every game has a meaning, and if Sungyeol played right, he would get his information.

They sat like that for awhile. Sunggyu watching over the younger while Sungyeol continued scrolling, hungrily awaiting information. He was looking for anything really – a sign, a clue. Something of use – something which proved he hadn’t just lost to a mere idiot like Myungsoo.

Three hours and five hundred pages later – which was surprising, really, how many articles newspapers could make out of lost grains of sand – Sungyeol found it. It was perfect – too perfect actually. It fit into his mystery like a jigsaw piece, sliding in as elegantly as a swan. Nam Woohyun – a renowned doctor who went missing – was part of this scheme, Sungyeol knew it.

“Check this out,” Sungyeol said, showing the laptop to the latter. Sunggyu stirred, aroused out of his sleep. He squinted his miniature eyes, rubbing them sleepily.

“I see a doctor,” Sunggyu mumbled, “So what?”

“Not just any doctor,” Sungyeol explained impatiently, “Nam Woohyun – a famous and supposedly ingenious doctor – who went missing five years ago. His bones were never found – but who says he was abducted? Who says he didn’t run away?”

Sunggyu yawned, still half-awake, “Your point?”

“This guy – Nam Woohyun – is part of the milk abductions. He’s the doctor half, and his father was a milk man – convenient, too convenient.”

“So you’re saying this was a family murder team?”

“I don’t know about his father,” Sungyeol confessed, “but I’m sure Nam Woohyun is part of it. Don’t you see it? Nam Woohyun is qualified, and he has a van. This is our guy.”

Sunggyu was awake then. “Okay, so is this one abductor or a team?”

“I…I can’t say. I don’t know.”

Sunggyu nodded vaguely, frowning in thought, “I don’t get it though. Tablo said someone gave them a letter saying Nam Soohyun is the culprit. Do you think it’s a typo? Or did they just read the letter wrongly? How can two names be so similar?”

There was a pause.

“Nam Soohyun. Nam Soohyun. Nam Woohyun. Kim Myungsoo.” Sungyeol tried the names on his tongue, pausing at the end of each. He frowned, considering each carefully, his mind working out a pattern. He gave something of a half-squeak and scream. “Nam Woohyun; Kim Myungsoo – don’t you get it? It’s a combination of both names. The milk abductors are Nam Woohyun and Kim Myungsoo.”

They heard a scream. The sounds of glass shatter. And then the room went black.

(A/N: I keep telling myself to reread my and leave it there so I can ponder...but LOLNO I'll just post this. More, more and more answers! Hopefully, but I'm thinking of probably two more twists to add in? :D Ahahaha, thank you all so much for reading! I know the foreword says three chapters but this is just...IDK it wasn't supposed to end up like this. LOL but it is and IDK...I hope it's okay? LOLOL I CAN ACTUALLY UPDATE CONSISTENTLY BLAME MY FRIEND. Hm...not much to say about this. Kim Myungsoo is Kim Myungsoo; and I hope 'Nam Soohyun' gave you a hint about his involvement hohoho IDK why but I always make L the bad guy its okay he can be a bamboo pillow loving baddie with his udon and chopsticks. I feel like this chapter is longer than usual, but I swear I'll stop being so weird and iffy and man up and end this crap...eventually. Oh why do I gull I cannot explain what I feel.)