That morning, at exactly eleven fifty five am, Lee Jaejin rips away the plastic covering from a cup of instant ramen, pours water into it, and sticks it into the microwave with his eyes still shut and his dark hair still tousled. His chin is covered with a thick layer of stubble; deep bags frame the bottom of his closed eyelids; only a pair of boxer shorts and a wrinkled t-shirt covers his wiry frame. He yawns as he stretches his arms up above his head, and his groggy eyes finally open just as the microwave dings. 

He pulls the cup ramen out of the microwave effortlessly, his fingers more than accustomed to the warmth, and leans back against the kitchen counter as he waits for his breakfast to cool. He knows that in about two minutes and eighteen seconds, his cell phone would start chirping cheerfully to Für Elise, and it would, of course, be the usual phone call from his lieutenant, Choi Minhwan, scolding him for being so damn lazy. Sir, I'm advising you to get to the office right now. Sir, you have to get up earlier than this. Sir, please. 

As soon as Jaejin sticks his pair of chopsticks into the steaming styrofoam cup, his phone starts to belt out Beethoven. Right on schedule. Jaejin thinks, Minhwan doesn't play around.

He picks up the iPhone, makes a face as he glances at the screen, and presses it against his ear, resisting the urge to roll his eyes childishly.

"Sir, do you know what time it is?"

Jaejin merely lets out a chuckle and noisily slurps up some noodles before he replies, "Time for you to stop bugging the hell out of your superior?"

He practically feels Minhwan's patience trickle, like a leaking hourglass. Except the hourglass has been leaking for quite a while now. 

"It's noon, sir. 12:04pm. On a Wednesday."

"Yeah, about that," Jaejin continues as he takes another noisy bite, "Why do you always call at such an odd time? Just call at noon or something, wouldn't that be easier for you?"

"Please, sir. You're the head of one of the finest security branches in Asia, Seoul's police force. You're also one of the most renowned detectives on the entire planet. With all due respect, I personally think that you shouldn't be sleeping in until noon every single day." Minhwan's voice is patient and leveled and not in the least shaky.

"Thanks for the advice, Lieutenant," Jaejin replies as he drains the last of his soup, "But you should know by now that you aren't ever going to be able to change my mind." A pause, "But I'll be there by one."

"Twelve forty five is preferred, sir."

"Don't push it, Lieutenant."

Jaejin hears the faintest of sighs before the line goes dead. He puts the down the phone, tosses the cup into the trash, and plods into his apartment's bathroom without another word.

He shaves for the first time in four days. He showers - also for the first time in four days. He takes out a rumpled dress shirt,  sniffs at it skeptically, shrugs, and pulls it on. He does the same with a pair of pants. And, finally, he approaches the only non-wrinkled article of clothing in his bedroom - the grey trenchcoat that hangs limply on his coat hanger. Jaejin stares at it for several long moments, as if he's hesitating, and finally pulls it on, wrapping it tightly around himself. No detective is complete without a dramatic coat, and that was exactly who Jaejin was. A detective. Or, more specifically, he was the youngest head of the police force that Korea has ever had. But he had started out as an inspector for the force only two years ago, and had somehow slowly climbed his way to the top. Lee Jaejin was a genius, and no man could ever deny it no matter how hard they tried. The gears in his mind weren't just gears, they were fast-paced, never stopping, always pedaling computers. His memory was immortal and indestructible, and he was a problem solver like no other. It was just his extremely unhealthy fast food diet, horrible sleeping clock, and childish habits that kept him so far from the perfect image of "Korea's top genius".

Jaejin, freshly shaved and cleaned, leaves his apartment at twelve forty pm.

---

It's snowing heavily.

Jaejin can't see past a foot in front of him, but he continues to stumble forward, the flashlight he gripped so tightly in his hand flickering and blinking repeatedly. He's running, and he's shivering and he's cold but he doesn't look back. There are a team of people around him, but Jaejin doesn't hear them or see them. They don't matter.

Jonghun matters.

He continues to blindly run. The snow that swallows the ground reaches almost to his knees, but Jaejin feels as if he has never ran so fast before in his life. His ungloved hands feel raw and frozen and bitten and dead. His face feels so cold that he thinks it just might be plausible to peel it straight off. And he refuses to close his eyes, not even for a second, because all he wants to see is Jonghun.

"Inspector! Over here?"

Jaejin snaps his head up and glances over to see a flashlight beam over at him in the darkness. It's one of his team members calling out to him. Minhwan.

"No," Jaejin shakes his head, his voice quiet, "He won't be over there. Follow me."  None of his words reach them, but they all seem to understand anyways. Jaejin continues to struggle forward.

They arrive at a small park. Jaejin reaches the playground, his teeth clenched as he leans down to examine the pole of a swingset.

"Inspector, what are you doing?!"

"Shut up!" Jaejin roars, and his purple fingers search for the familiar markings. He pauses as he feels them, etched under his skin, and he closes his eyes.

JH + JJ 2005.

His heart falls.

"He's here. He's gotta be here." Jaejin says, standing up, "Search the entire park! Find him! Find him right now!" 

Of course he would be here. They hadn't been here together in years, but it was just like Jonghun for him to be here, of all places. Of all the damn places in the world, of course it would be the one place that was neither forgotten nor easily remembered.

Jaejin throws himself back into the blizzard-like snowfall, and he searches, bare hands shaking, his entire body shaking, his heart shaking, his lungs shaking, everything in him and outside of him shaking and trembling and shivering--

"Oh my god." The words escape him before the thoughts even begin to process in his mind. Jaejin freezes in place. He sees a pool of red. With his entire being trembling, his eyes follow the trail of blood until they finally land on a body half-covered in the snow.

--

When Jaejin gets out of his car, he isn't at the office. In fact, he's about ten miles past the office. It's well past one, the scheduled time he was supposed to arrive, but there had never been a day where Jaejin was on time.

Dirt and gravel crunches under his shoes as he walks and approaches the tombstone.

"Hey, Jonghun," Jaejin smiles, "I miss you."