The sun is so warm and perfect… I haven’t felt this way for…well, forever. Freedom has this taste in it? I must say it is refreshing…

Namsan Tower is one of the most famous tourist spots in Seoul. Every tourist who ever visits Seoul is recommended to visit this place. Despite the crowd and the noise the number of tourists bring along with them, the place itself has a sense of calmness. I was hoping for the change that I had been waiting for in my life all along. Walking around the ‘Roof Terrace’ with all the ‘Locks of Love’ hanging around, my heart was beating with a new ray of hope. Without my knowledge my lips curved into a smile as I brushed my fingers across the array of wildly colored locks. They were of every shape, size and design and each one was a symbol of hope, memory or simple, unconditional love.

So this is what life is about?

The sun was merciful today. It was summer and it was hot but the rays weren’t hard on the people today. It shined but not with all its might but it shined just enough so that everyone out here would smile. Couples and groups of friends, gathering and huddling together to take random and happy pictures, watching all of them twisted my stomach from within. It was a sense of absence that grew steadily as I laid eyes on each of them. Instinctively I put my hand on my stomach and held it tight. Suddenly, I felt alone.

‘Oh… Look who we have here!’ An extremely deep yet cheery voice echoed behind me. I wasn’t sure if it was directed towards me but out of curiosity, I turned around to see.

I came face to face with a handsome, well-built man, probably in his early twenties, heavily clothed with street fashion including the baggy pants and oversized jackets. He was quite taller than I was so my neck worked hard to meet his eyes. He was standing there, giving me the most radiant smile I’ve seen in ages and I couldn’t help but smile back. He seemed soft, despite his muscular appearance. He had this kind expression on his face that would allow anyone to be polite with him immediately. I was no exception either. I couldn’t get over the deep yet smooth voice he had. If I didn’t know better, I would’ve assumed that he was a Thai person. His accent gave off that vibe.

‘I see that you are alone…’ his question threw me off.

‘Um, well…’ I didn’t know exactly what to answer him. I was alone by choice but he didn’t have to know that.

My instincts started to kick in; my brain was beginning to get defensive. It was not planned; my senses automatically were getting deliberate. They have been through enough to know how to react when and how, it has become something that was involuntary now. No matter how handsome he was, he was a threat to my subconscious.

‘Of course you are alone… You are a tourist!’ he suddenly screamed happily.

I am a tourist? Oh yes… why not?

I keep forgetting that I look different from the people around me. I am an Asian but I am not a Korean. I am an Indian… at least that is how I look like. I have been around this place for so long, sometimes I forget that I look different. To the others around me, no matter how long I have been in this land, I am always a tourist. Right now though, I wanted to keep it that way.

A smile took over my face in a second. He was harmless, my brain echoed. Of course, my heart agreed too. His smile grew wider than earlier, as if he had just hit the jackpot. With his actions that followed, it looked like, at least from his perspective, he had.

‘Cheolyong hyung!! Come here soon!!’ he screamed turning around.

I stood on my toes to peak beyond his tall figure. Another guy, similar in fashion and attitude was running towards the two of us. Hyung is how men refer to elder men here. I was wondering if they were actually related or not.

‘Yah! You got us a client! Good job!!’ he acknowledged the efforts of his partner as soon as he reached. His expression however calmed down once he noticed the confusion dancing on my face.

He nudged his partner to straighten up and soon they bowed down together greeting me, singing along the words they probably have been uttering for years together.

‘Hello, we are the Bang Duo! Bang Cheolyong and Bang Minsoo. No relation. We would like to be your guides for the day!’

A sense of amusement took over me as they ended their greeting with their arms open wide in grandeur. A laugh escaped me and the boys quickly gathered themselves from embarrassing themselves further.

‘I told you we should change the greeting. It is so cheesy and weird. Look at the girl judging us now. We will never eat tonight!’ Minsoo complained in their mother tongue hoping I will not understand.

However, I got every single word clearly.  Despite the amusement I was feeling, I continued to play my tourist card.

‘So, you are going to help me look around the place?’ I tried to put on the most cheerful voice I could pull off now.

‘If you allow us to…’ Cheolyong had this energy about him. He was bright and hyper yet stunningly handsome at the same time. The fedora he was sporting and the way his fringe peeked slowly outside made him nothing but adorable. Despite all the darkness that I feared, being the center of attention of two handsome boys felt like I was in heaven.

‘You should know that we are special.’ Minsoo started selling their credibility almost as if it was a chain reaction. ‘There are many tourist guides that you may find but you should know, no one is us!’

I smirked at the silly grammar mistakes he made while conversing in English. I appreciated his effort completely though. He was striving hard. Both him and Cheolyong, living their early twenties, earning by doing something is good and helpful. What they do with their money was something I didn’t concern myself about. Just to see the two of them have all the fun in the world just by being together was commendable. I grew a fondness over them.

‘How are you special?’ I played along with them. I was craving more of their positive energy.

‘Ah…That is where you should know…’ Cheolyong interrupted my train of thoughts. ‘We can be known well only by experience! You come with us to see Seoul and also our soul…’

‘Souls… its souls, hyung.’ Minsoo whispered or at least he thought he was. Cheolyong sheepishly smiled at the embarrassing moment. It seems like he had forgotten his script.

My smile was just growing wider.

‘So will you let us have the honor of showing you the beauty that is Seoul?’ Minsoo was trying to wrap things up before any further embarrassment was to occur.

I took a deep breath while I looked at the smiling faces of these two. They seemed carefree and happy and somehow they made me smile. My heart though was having trust issues. I didn’t know whether this was the right thing to do. I turned to see the vibrant locks shin under the sunlight and got reminded of my purpose on visiting here today.

I wanted to taste my freedom. These were one of my final days in Seoul anyway.

‘Surprise me!’ I smiled widely.

Ecstatic, they jumped in joy, giving each other a high five. Their spirit had this power to engulf you into their world of happiness and I was craving for that. They settled down and gathered themselves to hold out their hands to me.

‘Shall we?’ they sang in harmony.

Holding out both my hands to take theirs, we started on a happy journey around Seoul.

I mean, what could go wrong anyway?

~*~*~*~*~

‘We are done with this room, Sir.’ The forensic agent called for Joon who was standing next to the door step. Leaning on his back, hands firmly resting within his pockets, he was staring at the ceiling.

He seemed to be concentrating hard, more like controlling himself mentally to not do something. His uneven breathing though suggested difficulty in doing so. How was he supposed to do it anyway? Not with the scene that he just witnessed. He might be good at his job but he was human too.

‘Sir…’ the forensic agent dragged slowly again, this time closing in on him.

Distracted, Joon immediately changed faces as he turned to acknowledge the agent. His work ethics danced heavily on his face and professionalism started to take over him.

‘You are done? Are you sure you have collected everything necessary? This is the crime scene and it is very important that we do not miss any details. We need to be able to catch the killer no matter what.’

His firm yet subtle voice shook the insides of the forensic agent. It was just any other murder case to him. He’s collected evidence in over countless location of murder but everything he’s seen so far was strictly professional. The way he heard this Homicide Detective speak though, he found out that this one was personal. Personal to him, not because of the killer but because of the victim, he figured. A sense of empathy took over the agent as put on his most sincere voice to reply.

‘I assure you officer, we have collected everything necessary. If you want, I can give a once over for this room.’

‘I would certainly appreciate that…’ Joon replied firmly, bowing slightly in thanks.

Returning the favor, the agent bowed before getting back into the room and instructing his colleagues to continue their work.

Releasing a sigh of relief momentarily, Joon turned around to get back to his position. Instead he met with a man, a fellow cop, who was now standing right in front of him. His eyes were serious and he had a rigid look on his face, meaning business. His hands tucked in the pocket of his jacket; he slowly made his way closer to Joon. He was familiar, Joon thought, trying to squeeze out the memory of having met him, out of his brain.

‘We meet again, Lee Joon.’ His cave like deep voice immediately reflected all the memories of the day. He was her partner, he thought. They work together. No… they worked together.

‘Bang Yongguk, from Narcotics.’ Joon professionally held out his hand for a cordial handshake. Yongguk replied the gesture politely.

‘I was hoping that we would meet again under better circumstances. This one… it was unthinkable…’ he let his voice fade away as soon as he made contact with the scene.

He felt his heart jumping at his throat as soon as he saw the situation. Like he said, it was unthinkable. Never in a million years did he expect to see this in front of his eyes. She and him have been partner for four years now. They were a duo with amazing partnership and the best closing rate when it came to cases. They have taken down so many drug peddlers and smugglers in those four years, leading them to stumble on a bigger case, the root cause of all the pandemonium that these drugs create. The past one year they’ve been through crappy days and sleepless nights, gathering bits and pieces of information to ensure they had enough to bring down that elite drug unit that was terrorizing a lot of youngsters lately. However, it had come back to bite them now.

She lay there, in a pool of her own blood; her arms wide open by her side, as if she had completely given up. No, he retreated within his head, she wouldn’t have given up. She was the best fighter he knew. She always told him that we will go down only when we allow the force that is trying to do so, take over us. She had gotten that hardcore will from her brother, she always had told him, that this attitude runs in their family and runs deep. He could only wonder how much she should’ve fought to have to meet her end this way.

She was stabbed, multiple times; he noticed cuts all over her stomach and chest. The final cut however, had been on , according to what he saw. It had put her down instantly, he believed. Her eyes, still wide open, presented a state of shock and sorrow. He could see dried lines of tears on her cheek and his heart stirred within. He wasn’t sure if this image will ever let him go. It was more than the fact that she was his partner. She was, first of all and forever, his good friend.

A sneeze that escaped one of the fellow inspectors distracted both Joon and Yongguk, who were lost in an abyss of sorrow. They both had something deep and personal with her. Holding back their tears was the worst thing they could do right now and they did feel the pain worsen.

Gathering himself, Yongguk tried to stay professional. ‘What about your partner? Her brother? Where is he?’

‘He had gone scouting for a possible hideout of the serial killer we had been tracking recently to Anyang. He got held up there due to car trouble. He should be back anytime now.’ When he uttered the last sentence though, Joon felt like biting his own tongue. He didn’t want his friend to return. He did not want him to see his sister in the state that she is.

‘Come anytime but now, please. Take your time; get lost on your way back. Do anything but please come late. Please… please…’

However his wishes went disregarded.

‘Where is she? Just tell me where the hell she is! Where is my sister?!’ the wail of a wounded brother took over the entire home from the outside and caught Joon and Yongguk’s attention immediately. A sense of sympathy took over both their faces when they saw the state the he was. His shirt was half tucked, half out, his coat violently dancing along with his arms in desperation, his hair was all but made up. He had been driving with all his might, thought Joon, to reach here this soon. The afternoon sun was just peeking and he could see it reflect on his friend’s face, he had been crying continuously.

As soon as he saw him take his steps to come inside, instinctively Joon ran to stop him. He let him run into, eventually wrapping him in a hug, in an attempt to comfort him. Joon should’ve known better than to stop him.

‘I want to see her, Joon. Let me go please. I want to see my sister. I want to see my Sunhye!’

With a strong force and a perfect as Joon’s even he couldn’t stop him from pushing him over to make his way to her room where she was.

‘Seungho…’ Joon breathed slowly as he saw him finally reach the room.

Nothing but silence prevailed all over the place with everyone’s attention on Seungho who was now desperately balancing himself at the doorstep of the room. He was not sure if this was reality as his entire core was wishing that this was some ridiculous dream that he can brush aside. However, his brains that always reminded him of the reality that he should always be in, failed to help him even now. He let his strengths disappear from him and he fell onto his knees at the doorstep. He dropped his coat down and clasped his face with both his hands, as if he was trying to stop it from bursting into a million pieces. It was his little sister, the only family he had left, who was lying there in such despair, lifeless, leaving him all alone in this cruel world.

A single tear escaped Joon’s face as Seungho finally screamed in pain, let his tears flow unconditionally.