"Well, well, well, if it isn't the almighty Nam Woohyun himself. Good to see you're still alive and kickin' around here, punk."

Woohyun smiled briefly at the man who had joined him in the elevator. "Nice to see you too, Yongguk. I was starting to think you'd left us for the military or something."

Chuckling, Bang Yongguk reached over to press the seventeenth floor button. Incidentally, that was where Woohyun was headed, as well. "Nice guess, but not this time. The military can't handle someone like Bang Yongguk. No, I was busy working on a case with Hoya. Took us a week and a half to figure out who killed an estranged old librarian, but we snagged the villain in the end."

"You  were assigned to a case?" Woohyun studied his companion's figure. Tall, muscular, and with a passion for artillery that borderlined obsession, Yongguk was rarely ever sent on cases. He, like Woohyun, had joined the CSI nearly two years ago, but had been assigned to the weaponry division right after his first month on the job. "That's unusual. Considering the fact that you never venture out of the shooting ranges, I wouldn't have pegged you for the investigating type."

Another throaty laugh. "Damn straight, punk. My talents lie in the art of shooting and all things explosive, not solving murder mysteries. But Kangta was short on agents, so he decided to put me on the job. And who am I to refuse a request from the Boss?"

"Fair enough. Maybe now you can appreciate all the hard work and effort we regular agents put into investigations."

"Don't flatter yourself," Yongguk snorted. "Solving that case was a piece of chocolate-covered army cake." Folding his arms, he trailed his gaze over to his friend.

"Speaking of cases, I heard about how you and Sunggyu managed to solve yours last night. Congratulations. Though I bet you got a good earful from him afterwards, am I right?"

"What are you talking about?" the younger man asked, smiling blandly. Giving him a hard stare in return, his companion tsked and let his arms fall back to his sides.

"I can see why Sunggyu feels so frustrated with you. You don't really pay attention to what he has to say, do you, punk?"

At that moment, the elevator jolted to a stop. Ding, it announced, opening the doors to the seventeenth floor. The two men exited the lift and began walking down the main hallway. Yongguk waited until they had passed the first set of doors before continuing with his speech.

"You're driving him right up the wall, Woohyun." Yongguk nodded a hello to a passing agent, before turning to Woohyun with an arched brow. "Can't tell you the number of times your partner's come to me, complaining about whatever it was you did to piss him off again. Now, I'm not trying to lecture you or anything. God knows you get enough of that from Sunggyu-"

"Then what is it that you're trying to get at, Yongguk?" Woohyun interrupted, halting in his steps. The amused expression had disappeared from his face. "Spit it out already. I'm late for work."

The weaponry agent, too, stopped walking. He gave the dark-haired inspector a long, searching stare, not caring that they were blocking the hallway they were in. "Just think about Sunggyu," he finally said in his low, rumbling voice. "Think about how he feels and look at things from his point of view. You might call it nagging, but he sees it as something a little more different. Believe me, I know. He hasn't told me outright, but I can tell what his true feelings on this subject are."

Woohyun blankly returned his gaze. Again, just like the night before, a wave of complete and utter apathy washed over him. This again?  Really, what was with these people and their constant lecturing on this? It was starting to become quite a bother. At first, Woohyun had found Sunggyu's little rants about him amusing. It was as if he believed Woohyun would actually change his ways if he was scolded enough times. But now that Yongguk had joined the party, he found himself wishing that they'd hurry up already and realize he didn't give a damn.

Yongguk didn't give him a chance to reply. Resuming with his walk, he added, "And one last thing. Try to be more cautious during investigations, alright? Not just for Sunggyu, but for your sake, as well. We wouldn't want you dying on us, Nam Woohyun. Be careful."

He proceeded to stride away, leaving only his faintly echoing footsteps in his wake. Still quiet, Woohyun watched Yongguk's retreating figure until he sharply turned the corner. There was only one thought running through his mind, and the inspector half-regretted not saying it to Yongguk before he'd left.

'I don't care.'

He didn't, he honestly really didn't. But why couldn't the others see that? Why did Sunggyu, and now even Yongguk, insist on lecturing him on his intrepid, indifferent personality? It wasn't like he could help it. It was just the way Woohyun was, and if they couldn't accept that, they were a bunch of stubborn fools-

"Nam Woohyun, please report to the main office immediately. I repeat, Nam Woohyun, please report to the main office."

The sudden crackle of the P.A. system cut off his train of thought. Not the least bit startled, Woohyun glanced up to where the intercom was hanging up on the wall, a few feet away from him. Huh. Maybe the Boss had heard about his behaviour the night before, and wanted to dish out his usual reprimanding. It wouldn't be the first time it had happened.

Without a word, Woohyun began walking back towards the elevator. What a waste of a trip it had been, coming up.

-------

"We're here. Come on, let's go. Forensics will arrive any moment now."

Woohyun said nothing as he stepped out of Sunggyu's car. The pair had been assigned yet another murder investigation (that was what he'd been called to the Boss' office for, not to get yelled at like he'd assumed). According to Kangta, the body of a young woman had been found near an abandoned storefront, about twenty minutes away from HQ. Needless to say, it had been a silent car ride. Sunggyu, undoubtedly still miffed from the previous night, had only spoken to his partner when it was absolutely called for. Even then his words were curt and to-the-point. But Woohyun was fine with it. Finally, it seemed like Sunggyu was learning to leave him in peace.

The agent shut the vehicle door behind him. Without bothering to wait for his partner, he began walking towards the alley in between the deserted buildings. Dark, empty, and secluded, Woohyun had a strong hunch that the dead body would be found in there.

"Woohyun! Hey, Woohyun! Where do you think you're going?" Sunggyu suddenly shouted after him.

The dark-haired male didn't even look back. "Over to the alley. To do my job, Sunggyu." Geez, one might have thought that was an obvious one. He continued to make his way forwards, not caring that the older man was probably boiling with anger over his act-before-thinking attitude... again.

It was dimly lit, the alleyway. Although it was halfway through June, the day was a fairly cloudy one, providing no extra light for the inspector. He narrowed his eyes, trying to see past the shadows and terrible lighting of the area. If Woohyun concentrated hard enough, he could just make out the outline of the trash can, the broken glass littering the ground, and the dead body lying in the middle of it all- Wait, what?

Footsteps sounded behind him as Sunggyu hurriedly caught up. "There you go, running off again," he said, a hint of annoyance colouring his tone. "Maybe next time you can wait for me before you wander away-"

"Look," Woohyun interrupted. "I found her." He strode over to where the corpse was lying on the ground, leaving his companion behind again. "It's the murdered girl, alright."

Sighing, Sunggyu went over to where the agent and the corpse were together. "And you still aren't listening," he muttered, but looked down at the girl anyway. At the sight of her still, almost eerie-looking shell (because that was all she really was now- a lifeless, soulless, inanimate shell), Sunggyu immediately narrowed his eyes. "You're right," he said, forgetting about his previous irritation, "We have her."

She wasn't a pretty sight, to say the least. Dirty and with a rather ghastly complexion, there wasn't a single stitch of clothing on her body. That would instantly bring the words -and-murder case  to mind, but... What made everything seem so unusual were the scratches on her skin. No, they were more like lacerations, crisscrossing everywhere on the canvas of her body like angry lines of red paint.

Woohyun continued to study the corpse. They were intriguing, those cuts. From the angle he was looking at, he could tell that they weren't very deep, just long and shallow incisions on the flesh. Most likely they had been made by a knife of some sort.

'So this is how you're making yourself known...' The dark-haired man trailed his gaze over the poor victim's body. Some of the cuts looked scabby, like they were in the process of healing, but most of them appeared to be raw and freshly-made. Woohyun frowned. In no way possible was he a forensics expert (he preferred to leave that headache-inducing crap to Dongwoo and his team), but even with his minimal knowledge, he could tell that the girl had been killed around a day ago. These cuts couldn't have been more than half an hour old. So, unless some other sick-minded freak had stumbled upon the body afterwards, the killer must have returned to finish his business-

Crack.

Woohyun snapped his head up. Beside him, Sunggyu had also tensed his body, indicating that he, too, had heard the noise.

"What was that?" Sunggyu hissed through his teeth. He glanced around his surroundings, trying to see past the dim lighting. "If it was the guy who did this, we need reinforcements here pronto- Woohyun! What do you think you're doing now?"

The younger man ignored him. His attention wasn't focused on Sunggyu- nor the girl's body, for that matter- but rather on the end of the alley they were in. Because someone was there. Someone was watching them. Woohyun and Sunggyu weren't the only two people present with the corpse.

Without another thought, Woohyun sidestepped the body and moved forwards. The unknown figure seemed to realize what was happening, because at that moment, he immediately turned and dashed around the corner of the alley. No matter. Woohyun's own feet sped up, as well. If he wanted to play a game of chase, the inspector was more than ready to join.

As he neared the end of the alleyway, he saw that the figure had been caught by a dead-end. Woohyun allowed the corners of his lips to twist upwards a little. Game over. If the person he was pursuing was the killer (although the prospect of that was very, extremely, highly unlikely), then well, case closed. If not, there was always the chance he could tell the agents something about the dead girl. If he'd been hanging around the area, he might have witnessed a part of the actual murder-

The person suddenly whirled around. It was hard to see through the shadows, but Woohyun managed. He could make out a tall, rather slender build, face shrouded by a hood and arm holding out what appeared to be a gun-

By the time Woohyun figured out what was going on, it was already too late.

Bang!