Haruki looked up and scowled as Kai hopped off her desk, walking over to the door and peering out yet again. Then she glared up at Suho, who was perched on the other end of her desk, nibbling at his fingernails. The rest of the boys from Evidence had invaded her office, taking up most of the available space in the room.

"Just let us know if we're bothering you," Kris told her.

"You are bothering me," Haruki snapped.

"It's just a few more minutes!" Kris replied. "We just want to find out if Luhan passed his detective's exam or not and then we'll leave, I promise!"

Haruki glanced up at the clock. Chief Park had announced he would be introducing the new member of the department at 11:00. It was currently 9:30. "Kris, there's another hour and a half before we find that out."

"Oh." But none of the boys made a move to leave the office.

Haruki couldn't take it anymore. Slamming her laptop shut, she unplugged it and scooped it up with several files, tucking them all under her arm as she strode towards the door. "Hey, where are you going?" asked Kai.

"I just need to check on something for a few minutes." Since none of these boys had any sense of time, that should allow her to stay away until they left. But did she really trust them to be in her office?

"Hey, can you get us-?" began Kai but before he could finish the sentence, Haruki was gone.

"Why would it take so long to decide this?" asked Lay. "I mean, it's a yes or no question. Either he passed or he didn't."

"I don't think it's that simple," Baekhyun replied. "They need to take other things, like field experience, into account. Besides, the competition’s pretty intense. He’s the only one who’s sort of in this department right now, but there are at least four other qualified candidates from other divisions."

“I heard Chief Park’s being pressured to bring in another girl,” added Chanyeol.

"I still say they feel sorry for him because he got hit by a car," Tao said and the others laughed.

"But they also say he did something amazing with that stalker guy's diary," said Sehun. "He realized there was some sort of secret message in it or something."

Kai nodded. "I heard that's why Haruki's basically taken him on as her protégé."

"Ooh, big words coming from you," teased Kyungsoo.

Kai scowled at him before continuing. "She even took him to arrest a murderer when she probably wasn't supposed to."

"Sounds like she has a crush on him," snickered Chen.

Kris rolled his eyes. "Yeah, nothing more romantic than a showdown with a killer."

"Besides, she has a boyfriend, idiot," Xiumin retorted.

There was a knock on the door and Donghae came in, looking bewildered. "Wow, Haruki sure is popular. What are you guys doing here?"

"We wanted to find out whether or not Luhan passed his exam," Kris explained. "And we didn't know where else to wait."

"Where is she?" Donghae asked.

"She said she was going to be gone a few minutes to check on something."

Donghae had to hide a grin. He'd been on the receiving end of that before. It meant she had holed herself away in some corner of the building where she wouldn't be disturbed for an hour or so.

"I wouldn't worry about your friend," Donghae replied. "Luhan's a smart guy and he got really good recommendations from all of us. He was like a member of the team during the vigilante case." He smiled at them all before he left, shutting the door behind him.

"And that's the boyfriend," whispered Xiumin.

Chen looked slightly worried. "You don't think he heard me, do you? I mean, he looks like-"

"Oh shut up, Chen, you're fine," Suho growled.

"Why was Luhan promoted in the first place?" Chanyeol asked thoughtfully.

"Probably because he's been out analyzing secret messages and gunning down killers while we lounge around and make paper airplanes out of old files?" suggested Sehun.

"No, I meant before that," Chanyeol replied. "I mean, he used to be lazy and not do any work when he was in Evidence either. How did he get promoted before the rest of us did?"

Lay made an impatient gesture. "Who cares? It's his dream to work as a detective. We should all be happy for him."

"He's not the only one," protested Baekhyun. "I mean, we all went into the Police Academy together. We trained together and graduated at the same time. Remember the night before graduation when we snuck a bottle of soju in and passed it around. Whoever was holding the bottle had to tell the others his dream and take a drink."

The group fell silent. "He didn't have the best scores or anything," Chanyeol murmured. "So why did they pick him?"

Haruki was heading back to her office when she turned a corner and nearly collided head first with Donghae. "Sorry." She tried to duck around him. Ever since Chief Park had told them they would no longer be allowed to work together to avoid distractions, she had tried her best not to interact with Donghae at all and he mostly respected that when the others were around. Now, however, he held out an arm to stop her.

"I met your entourage."

"My entourage?"

"The group of cute boys hanging out in your office," Donghae replied.

Haruki made a face. "Are they still there?"

"Should I be worried?" he asked with a grin.

Despite being at work, where anyone could walk by and see them, Haruki raised a hand and punched Donghae on the arm. "Shut up."

She left him chuckling as she headed back towards her office. If anything, the mood was even worse now than it had been when she left. Before, they had just been antsy, pacing around and poking through her things until she felt like she was losing her mind. Now, they looked like they had rainclouds hanging over their heads.

Haruki set her laptop and files on her desk before crossing her arms. "Alright, what's wrong?"

No one said anything. Haruki glanced up at the clock. 10:30. "Chief Park should be coming back soon. We should wait for him out in the hall."

That seemed to bring them back to life somewhat. "Haruki?" Kris asked with an unfamiliar timidity. "How does Chief Park decide who gets promoted?"

Haruki looked from one glum face to the next and smiled. "I think I know what happened. You all came out of the Police Academy with big dreams and got stuck doing menial work that you found dull. You got bored with the routine and began slacking off- no, don't even argue. I've seen you guys at work." Tao shrank back, looking sheepish. "After a while, you forgot why you ever wanted to work here in the first place. Am I right?"

Nodding. It looked like a small earthquake was shaking the room.

"I was surprised when I first heard Luhan got promoted to our department, too," Haruki said. "Later, I found out that he'd been doing a lot of work that he never told you guys about. He came up with a new organizational system for cold cases and a better way of archiving them by their statutes of limitation. He used to read files from closed cases, too, to study from them. Basically, he never gave up on his dream, even though he didn't know if anyone noticed all his hard work. Chief Park did. He notices everything."

"Is this the part where you give us a motivational speech and inspire us to work harder?" asked Kris, sounding much more like himself.

Haruki laughed. "Hey, I'm just saying it's not easy. Nothing worth doing is. I had to fight to get here and put up with some things I hated doing."

"Like what?"

"I was brought in from the narcotics division. I spent my first year there going undercover as a hooker."

Kai's face lit up. "I want to hear that story."

"I was pretending to be a hooker," Haruki snapped. "Look, just because Luhan might get promoted doesn't necessarily mean he's better than the rest of you. It just means he wanted it more."

Ryeowook knocked on the door and poked his head in. "Chief Park's back- who are these guys?"

"My entourage," Haruki said sarcastically. She held open the door and ushered them out.

Luhan was fiddling with the end of his tie when they approached him. He started when Haruki placed a hand on his shoulder. "How are you doing?" she asked in a low voice as the other boys crowded around him.

"Oh, I'm fine," he replied, but she noticed the way his hands were shaking.

"Nice tie."

"Oh, you know." He shrugged casually and tried to smile. "I thought I'd dress for the occasion just in case...I mean, you know. There are other people who have more experience and are probably more qualified-"

Haruki cut him off. "You'll be fine."

Chief Park came out of his office and nodded towards the assembled group. "As I told you all yesterday, we will be adding a new member to the team. Most of you already know him." He smiled. "I'd like to introduce you all to Detective Luhan. I trust that you will welcome him on his first official day and-"

Leeteuk was drowned out by a loud cheer as Luhan's friends pounced on him. He disappeared under their massive group hug as Haruki shook her head and stepped out of the way. Donghae came over to her. "I'm guessing he'll be working with you, since you don't have a partner anymore."

"Seems like it," she replied. "He's a good kid. Hard-working, if a little too enthusiastic."

Eunhyuk squeezed in between them and propped an elbow on each of their shoulders. "You heard the boss. We should all welcome him as best as we can."

Haruki shrugged him off and raised an eyebrow. "You glued his desk drawers, didn't you?"

Eunhyuk pretended to look shocked, which only lasted a few seconds before he broke down laughing. "Of course we did! It's part of the rookie ritual. It makes him one of the team!" Haruki just shook her head and smiled in exasperation.