A few days later, Taeyeon woke up with her phone ringing loudly.

“Sorry to wake you up, Taeyeon-ssi,” she heard the voice of the Head Chief, Youngwoon at the other line.

“It’s okay, Sir. I’m already up anyway,” Taeyeon said, moving her phone away from her head as she yawned. “Anything’s wrong?”

“Uh, it’s a kind of déjà vu, I must say. A couple of fisherman pulled a dead body out from the river in their nets this dawn. It’s near the location where the first victim was found, so it’s gotta be linked with her. Come see yourself.”

And with that, Taeyeon tripped on her own foot.

∞

She arrived at the crime scene half an hour later, and it was still early in the morning, around 8 A.M. When she saw the corpse, she could swear that she’s seen her before, her face looked so familiar. The corpse’s lips were also in a color of dark blue and pale that it sent chills down to Taeyeon’s spine.

Taeyeon darted her eyes to the corpse’s shirt, which had two buttons undone, revealing her chest with another carved Chinese words on it. So this is what Officer Youngwoon meant by déjà vu. Looks like we may have a serial killer, huh?

She quickly took a proof picture of it and reminded herself to ask Luhan about the meaning of these characters. Taeyeon then realized that the woman was wearing a pretty expensive suit from H&M. But there wasn’t any I.D. card, or even an engraved ring. When Taeyeon was going to give up, her eyes spotted a metallic key under the nets, with a name on the keychain.

It read Cho Joohyun, KBSTV News.

Oh, God.

A local news anchor.

This isn’t good.

∞

“’Indiscreet’,” Luhan said, munching a donut with chocolate filling, “You know, like someone who has a big mouth, telling things they shouldn’t.”

“Indiscreet, huh,” Taeyeon mumbled, spinning her pen between her fingers.

“You said it’s on the new victim’s chest? That means, the first and second victim’s killer is the same person,” Luhan said.

“I think that too, Lulu.”

“Don’t call me by my pet name! Luhan, Luhan!”

Taeyeon scoffed, “Sorry. Anyway, thanks. See you later.”

Taeyeon excused herself and decided to have an early lunch, more like a brunch, because she missed her breakfast. Just when Taeyeon went out from the office, her phone rang and saw Baekhyun’s ID written on her phone screen.

“Hey,” Taeyeon answered, her voice softened.

“Morning, Taeyeon-ah.”

“It’s 11 A.M., Baekhyun, the sun is already high,” she chuckled.

“Sorry,” he chuckled too, “Where are you?”

“At the office already, another victim was found this early morning.”

“Creepy. Bet you haven’t eaten your breakfast.”

“You guessed it right,” Taeyeon smiled.

“Wanna get some brunch?”

“I’m about to get one.”

“Wait for me then, I’ll pick you up.”

Beep.

Taeyeon looked at her phone, a smile never disappeared. Five minutes later, her boyfriend’s car arrived and Taeyeon hopped in. They went to the nearest restaurant and had brunch together.

“I’m sorry if I can’t spend some time with you, Baekhyun-ie. When I’m in a case I usually have no time for any other stuffs,” Taeyeon said, wiping with a napkin.

“I understand, babe. It’s your job, so I’m okay with it. Just make sure you call, so I can know how you’re doing,” he smiled and wiped a small amount of sauce on the edge of Taeyeon’s lips.

Taeyeon felt a heat radiated from her cheeks. Please, I’m not a teenager anymore, I don’t blush. “Thank you.” She received a nod.

Taeyeon said she had to go back to work after 15 minutes. Baekhyun drove her back to the office and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead before leaving. After Taeyeon finally seated on her own desk, she took her phone and dialed Sunkyu’s number.

“You need anything, Taeyeon-ah?” Sunkyu asked.

“M-hm. We’ve got another victim, Sun. Looks like the same cause to me, but I need you to confirm it. It was Cho Joohyun, Sunkyu-ah, the KBSTV newscaster, can you believe that?” Taeyeon said on the phone.

“My goodness, Cho Joohyun! The media will go crazy about this.”

“You bet. I need you to find any evidence that’ll lead me to the killer, Sunkyu-ah. I’m counting on you!”

“I’m on my way, Tae. I’ll call you when I’m done. Toodles.”

“Toodles.”

∞

Sunkyu sighed while squatting down beside the dead body of Cho Joohyun, a pretty popular newscaster from the KBSTV. Though they’ve never seen each other, Sunkyu thought that she must be a nice person. Sunkyu saw her lips had the same colors with the last victim’s, so it might be because of the same chemical, botox. The corpse also had Chinese characters carved on her chest.

Sunkyu’s face lightened as she saw a blood stain on the corpse’s pants. Quickly she took a cotton bud and took a sample of it. She’d do a lab test with that sample. Sunkyu also spotted a fresh cut on her cheek, and decided to take a sample of it too. The corpse’s body was also in a good condition, and she assumed that she was already done in there.

After calling Officer Youngwoon and told him that she’s done, she drove back to the office to run a lab test for the blood sample taken from Cho Joohyun’s pants.

May you rest in peace, Cho Joohyun.

∞

“B-,” Sunkyu mumbled to herself and quickly took notes of it. “Cho Joohyun’s blood type is B-. Now let’s see the blood on her pants, maybe it doesn’t belong to her.”

With her chemicals, the blood on Cho Joohyun’s pants was determined with the type of AB+. Quite a rare type, lucky break!

Sunkyu reached her phone and called Taeyeon.

“I took two samples of blood, Tae. The one was from a cut on her cheek, and the other was on her pants. It turns out to be different!” Sunny exclaimed over the phone.

“So, you’re saying that one of them is the killer’s blood?” Taeyeon asked, sitting up straight on her chair.

“I can’t say for sure, there’s a possibility.”

“You rock, Sunkyu-ah.”

“Nah. Anyway, I’m going to send over some blood sample kits for you. If you happen to get samples from your suspects be sure to tell me, I’ll have it in my records.”

“It’s not like every person bleed everyday! How can I get blood samples, should I wait for them to bleed?” Taeyeon asked, voice a bit panic.

Sunkyu laughed, “No, you dumb face. Remember, I can get a blood type from urine, saliva, or maybe tears. Just take as many evidence as you can.”

“Magnificent. Thanks a bunch, Sun!”

Taeyeon cut the line and quickly dialed another number, another good friend of hers, Jessica. Working as a reporter for Seoul Post, Taeyeon is most likely to ask her about much information.

“Hey, Jessie,” Taeyeon said, resting her forehead on her palm.

“Hey, how’re you doing?” The girl on the other line replied.

“I’m doing great, Jess, thanks for asking.”

“Anything I can help you with?”

“I’m hoping that you know Cho Joohyun from KBSTV.”

“Yeah, I know her. We kinda met at a couple of press meetings a few weeks ago. Why?” Taeyeon heard a crunching sound of chips afterwards.

“We found her by the river this morning, dead.”

“Geez! Are you even serious?”

“I am, Jess. Remember the young lady that was found dead just by the river I told you a few days ago? Cho Joohyun’s killing looks like the same operation. It feels like a serial killer.”

“That’s terrible, Taeyeon-ah.”

“I know,” Taeyeon replied shortly while closing her eyes.

“I think I can dig some information if I can find someone who knows her. Do you want me to?” Jessica asked with a reassuring tone.

“Would you? That’d be great, Jess. Any info about her would help.”

∞

“Yeah I know about her,” Tiffany, one of Jessica’s fellow reporters had said. “I met Joohyun-ie three days ago and she looked like hell, you should know.”

“What happened to her?” Jessica asked, crossing her legs under the table of the café.

“Well, she had a super traditional family. She was forced into marriage by her own family. Her husband, Cho Kyuhyun, was pretty much a jerk,” Tiffany explained, sipping her orange juice.

“How awful,” Jessica looked concerned.

“It is. Cho Kyuhyun didn’t approve of her career. Oh, and! Joohyun told me that her husband was kinda involved in something.”

“’Something’?”

Tiffany continued, “I don’t know what that something was, but I believe that something was surely disturbing and put her live miserable. I didn’t get the details.”

“As in a crime? Or an organization? Or else?”

“No idea. You ask me, I think your prime suspect would be Cho Kyuhyun.”

∞

That evening, Taeyeon decided to visit Cho Joohyun’s residence. She had looked for her address from the data their department had. After making sure that she arrived at the correct house, she got out from her car and rang the bell twice. But no one answered. She looked for a back door, instead she found a gate to a backyard, wasn’t locked.

I think I heard someone in the garden, she said told herself as she pushed the gate open. And there, she spotted a person, sitting by the bench, staring into the darkened sky.

“Mr. Seo?” Taeyeon called, voice barely a whisper.

The said guy turned his head urgently, and quickly stood up. “Who are you?”

“Sorry for being rude, nobody opened the door and I heard—”

“What do you want from me and my family?” He asked, voice filled with terror.

“Please calm down, Mister. I’m here to ask you a few questions regarding to your daughter’s death. I’m from the Seoul National Police Department, I’m Detective Kim Taeyeon. Can I?”

Mr. Seo’s face softened a bit and trooped his head down. He finally agreed, but he still seemed to be passive and anxious.

“Joohyun said something about Kyuhyun-ssi being involved in something? I-I know nothing about that!” Mr. Seo said, when he was asked about this problem.

Taeyeon recalled her previous phone call with Jessica just before she dropped by the Seo’s residence, and she made sure she heard her right.

“Are you sure, Mr. Seo?” Taeyeon confirmed back.

“Of course. I can’t say anything about it. Joohyun was spoiled by the outer world, she didn’t understand the danger of life! Ever since we live separately, she had change. The society changed her! If she had listened to Tao—never mind. I won’t say anything more,” Mr. Seo stood up, “As for Kyuhyun, he had nothing to do with my daughter’s murder. He’s in United States. Now, please leave, Detective Kim.”

Sure, Taeyeon got a lot of information from the interview with Mr. Seo. She also noticed that Mr. Seo was clearly afraid during the interview.

Possible culprit? Father killing his own child?

She also remembered him saying something that had to do with the name Tao.

Whoever he was, I need to find out about him.

updated! woop, woop are you guys thrilled? haha judging from the comments, no. why don't people comment and say what your thoughts are, come onnn i need to know your opinion about this story TAT oh! first upvoter, yay! thank you allaibeb! just don't forget to comment, hit the subscribe button, and upvote! love ya subbies and readers.