Donghae rapped loudly on the door a couple of times, cursing under his breath. He’d already been standing at the door for some time already, and yet nobody had answered the door. Sungmin kept patting on his shoulders, silently asking him to calm down. He’d never seen his boss this agitated before. He must be really mad at himself for not realizing anything and not making the connections earlier.

The inspector was on the verge of forcing the door open when it creaked open by two inches and an elderly woman peeked out. She looked old and frail, probably in the seventies or eighties. “M-May I h-help you, g-gentlemen?”

Donghae was taken aback, but he regained his composure quickly. He hadn’t expected an old woman to answer the door. Now he felt perhaps a little guilty for hurrying her up.

“Good evening, ma’am. May I speak to Choi Siwon-sshi please?”

The old woman frowned and put a hand behind her ear, showing the inspector her hearing device. “W-what? S-speak up sonny, I c-can’t hear you…”

“Choi Siwon-sshi,” Donghae repeated, louder this time. Seeing the confused look on her face, Sungmin nudged the inspector. “Try his other name.”

“Andrew Choi?” he asked, hopefully. “We’ve been told this is his house address.”

To both their dismay, the elderly woman shook her head twice. “Nope. Been living h-here all my life and ain’t h-heard nothin’ bout a Choi. S-sorry, sonny.”

The officers bowed and apologized for her trouble. When the door closed, Donghae exhaled loudly through his nose and faced the shorter male. “Well, that went well, didn’t it?”

Sungmin rolled his eyes. “We should’ve known he would have used a false address if he were up to no good. I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to think Hyukjae was right about this guy being fishy, suspicious and all. I wonder if Kyu was able to find out anything about him in the database?”

Suddenly, Donghae’s phone vibrated in his pocket with the shrill blaring of some random Korean boyband music. Ignoring the amused look from his officer, the inspector pulled out his phone to check the caller ID.

“Well, speak of the devil…” He dragged the green button across his screen and put the phone at his ear. “Kyuhyun? What did you find about him?”

“You probably won’t believe me if I told you, inspector.”

“Why? Stop talking in riddles and just tell me everything straight.”

“Choi Siwon was arrested two years ago for murder, but he wasn’t found guilty and was released shortly after. I know you know this already since you told us before, and—”

“Get straight to the point.”

“I was just getting to that. Geez, be patient for a while, can’t you? Well, after that incident, he’s disappeared from our records ever since.”

“Seriously?”

“Yep. There’s nothing else here. It’s like he’s turned into a model citizen after being released.”

“How about his details? The address he gave us was a fake. Surprise, surprise.”

“The last recorded address for Choi Siwon was at the time he was arrested, which was back in Suwon. I tried searching his location from other contacts like realtors and hotels but they don’t have anyone registered under the name Choi Siwon or Andrew C. for the past year. Either he’s using yet another alias for lodging and stuff, or he’s simply staying with friends or relatives; that I don’t know.”

“This is bad,” Donghae exhaled slowly, thinking hard. “Okay, thanks for the info, Kyuhyun. I’ll call you back later. I’ll go pay Hyukjae a visit first.”

“Yes, sir.”

“So where are we going again?”

“To see Hyukjae,” Donghae answered, walking back to his car. “He might just know more about Siwon or Andrew than we do. And since he isn’t picking up, I’m going straight to his door, whether he wants to see me or not.”

“You sure you’re okay with this?” Sungmin asked warily. The last time when a certain prankster was concerned, Donghae had nearly thrown a fit at the mere thought of Hyukjae ignoring him.

“I’m perfectly fine with this.”

“Deep breaths, inspector.”

“I told you I’m perfectly fine.”

“Deep breaths.”

“Fine. Whatever.”

* * *

“Hyukjae?”

Donghae hesitantly pushed the door open. It wasn’t locked, much to his surprise, and he cautiously stepped foot into the small apartment. It wasn’t half as big as his own, but it was definitely cleaner and t