Jungsu was stuck. He looked at the timeline he had drawn out and his notes strewn on his desk, then turned his attention to the crime scene pictures pinned to the corkboard on the wall. He stared, unblinking at the dry tear tracks running down from Hyukjae’s eyes. They never failed to make Jungsu uncomfortable. Every day he came into his office to see Hyukjae’s tear stained face displayed on the corkboard across his desk and he became frustrated from not being able to solve the puzzle.

Kyuhyun had said that the caller, Hyukjae, was calm. He described a strange tranquility in his voice. Hyukjae was about to commit the most irreversible act, yet he had been calm. At peace.  But pictures speak louder than words. The evidence of emotional instability was recorded on Hyukjae’s face.

Could it be that Hyukjae broke down after he ended the call? Or was Kyuhyun lying about Hyukjae’s emotional state? Jungsu still didn’t trust that Kyuhyun had been telling the entire truth. Unfortunately, the crisis hotline didn’t record their calls due to privacy confidentiality regulation. He had no way to confirm or refute what Kyuhyun told him about the call, only that it happened. Not even Hyukjae’s cell phone records had provided additional information.

He had nothing to go on. No prints. No organic evidence. No witnesses. No leads. He was at a loss. At this rate, the case would go cold.

The search through Hyukjae’s computer turned out to be a dead end as well. The only thing that came out of that was an awkward update from the computer forensics agent. She had uncovered nefarious files and visits to lewd sites. She didn’t even want to look at Jungsu’s face when those descriptive words came out of .

Through an inquiry to Hyukjae’s friends, he found out about an incident where Hyukjae harmed himself when he punched a mirror. He had to drive himself to the hospital to get his hand patched up. Jungsu put two and two together and assumed it was the reason for the newer, smaller mirror in his master bathroom. This lead Jungsu to believe that Hyukjae may have been capable of killing himself. That type of impulsivity, the lack of control contributed to his belief that it really was suicide. But Hyukjae was a low suicide risk at the least and a moderate suicide risk at most.

He had no enemies to speak of, leaving his death open as a crime of opportunity, but the fact that nothing was in disarray or stolen and the amount of organization made Jungsu doubt that theory.

The entire time, Jungsu had been operating under premise that the concrete facts didn’t add up to a suicide, therefore it must be a murder. But the lack of leads had driven him to consider that sometimes things don’t make sense. But he couldn’t write that in his report. He couldn’t admit that he was contemplating the existence of ghosts or the possibility that Hyukjae had made contact with Kyuhyun from the beyond. Although no one could hear his thoughts, he felt the blood rush to his ears from embarrassment at the mere consideration.

Indeed, this case was full of contradictions and, inevitably, his circular reasoning would kick in.

A knock at the door startled him from his thoughts. He looked up to see Sungmin peek his head in through the opening at the door.

“Hi, Park. I’m going out to a call. Do you want to take it with me?” Jungsu looked back at the corkboard. Seeing his hesitation, Sungmin spoke up again, “C’mon. I could use the help.”

In the end, Jungsu got up and grabbed his jacket hanging from the backrest of his chair. He left with Sungmin.

Cases go cold sometimes.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Hyukjae felt awkward around Heechul but he couldn’t deny him. Part of it was due to the scary aura that surrounded older man, the other was due to him being pursued and not the pursuer for a change. Heechul was the one to initiate their friendship and Hyukjae just went along with it.

Heechul seemed to be at home anywhere and with everyone for as long as his attention span granted. Even if someone didn’t like him, it would just slide off of him. He was free of burdens and that’s something that the worrisome Hyukjae aspired to.

Heechul, on the other hand, didn’t particularly like Hyukjae. He liked pretty things and he didn’t consider Hyukjae to be one.

“Would you like a pop?” Hyukjae called to Heechul from the kitchen. He ducked his head into the refrigerator to reach for the soda cans.

“Yeah, sure.”

Hyukjae came back to the living room with two cans of soda. He handed one to Heechul, who didn’t look at all pleased. “Ice, Hyukjae.”

“Oh, right.” Hyukjae jogged back to the kitchen.

“And a straw,” Heechul added.

“Here you go.” Hyukjae placed the glass of ice and straw on the table.

“Thanks.” Heechul poured his soda into the glass. “So you’re free for the rest of the evening?”

“Yes.”

 “You’re not doing anything tonight?”

 “Nope.

“Good for you. You get to spend it with me.” Hyukjae raised an eyebrow at Heechul. “Ha ha ha. Not like that.” He threw a pillow at Hyukjae.

“Oh, okay.” Hyukjae looked at Heechul. He wasn’t good at reading him. He never knew if he was bored or enjoying himself. “Umm… Heechul? Do you want to watch TV?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“You use Netflix much?”

“Yeah.”

Hyukjae opened the application on his smart TV. “What genre do you usually watch?”

“I like dramas.”

Hyukjae clicked through the various drama series that were available. He thought Heechul would never settle for one of them as he had scrolled through the long library, all the way down to the K’s.

“There! Stop there!” Heechul said excitedly.

“This one?”

“Yeah. Have you seen it?”

“No but it looks interesting.” Hyukjae selected the drama of Heechul’s choice: The Killing.

During the break between the second and the third episode, Hyukjae spoke up, “I bet it was someone from the campaign.” He turned to look at Heechul for some sort of reaction. “Umm… Heechul?” Hyukjae tried to get his attention. “Heechul?” he called again when there was no response.

Heechul finally snapped out of his thoughts. “Oh, what was that?”

Hyukjae chuckled. “You looked like you were having a staring contest with God. Like this.” Hyukjae opened his eyes as wide as physically possible and stared with his head slightly tilted upward, doing his best spaced-out-Heechul impression.

“Oh, was I?” Heechul kept a straight face with no trace of amusement. This made Hyukjae quickly turn his attention back to the TV, thinking he had made a mistake.

“Hey, I’m going to the restroom.” Heechul stood and took his messenger bag with him to the restroom.

Hyukjae smiled awkwardly to himself. ‘Hmm…Like a girl.’

Heechul closed the door to the restroom. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He stared at his reflection in the mirror for a moment before nodding, as if giving himself permission to proceed. He reached into his bag and produced a pair of latex gloves. Heechul put the gloves on and removed a .22 caliber handgun with the silencer he had made himself, from a plastic bag.  He walked back out to the living room, silently creeping up behind the armchair. He put the gun to Hyukjae’s head, causing the latter to go stiff. Heechul rounded the armchair to look Hyukjae in the eyes. He stood in front of him, all the while pointing the gun right at his head.

“H-heechul?”

“Hmm?”

“W-what are you doing?”

Heechul looked at his hand that held the gun as if he had forgotten exactly what he was doing. He looked back at Hyukjae’s face and pressed the end of the suppressor to into his temple with more determination.

Hyukjae didn’t know if Heechul was being serious. He tested the waters by attempting to get out of his seat. Heechul chambered a round, causing Hyukjae to sink back into the armchair. “Okay-okay. Please, let’s just talk for a second. We could work things out.” Feeling the suppressor pressed harder on his temple, Hyukjae quickly added, “Whatever it is I did, I’m sorry.”

“Now, why would you apologize for something if you didn’t know what you did wrong? Does that apology, then, have any meaning? Besides, you haven’t trespassed against me.”

“No-no-no. Please.” Hyukjae’s voice wavered. He was on the verge of tears.

“Don’t fight it Hyukjae. You know, statistically, ten out of ten die. Trust me. I’m only trying to help.”

“W-what?” Hyukjae didn’t know if the desperation was clouding his mind or if Heechul was making much sense. “Heechul, I could help you. Just let me live so I could do that, okay?”

“No. You obviously still don’t understand.”

“What? Understand what? Tell me please.” Tears started flowing from his eyes. Hyukjae’s nose was running. Heechul looked at him in displeasure. “You know, my neighbor’s home. If I yell, he’ll surely hear.”

“That old man? I doubt it.”

“Just let me go please. I won’t tell anyone.”

Heechul rolled his eyes. “Do I look stupid to you? Seriously, don’t ask for something so illogical. I’m not going to let you go just so you could run and tell the authorities what I did. that! They’d lock me up and as soon as I step foot in that prison, they’ll be eyeing my .”

“I won’t press charges. We don’t have to ever see each other again. You just walk out of here.”

“That is my intention, yes.”

“I mean let me live and you could just walk out of here. No harm, no foul.”

“You beg too much. I should probably make this quick then. Trust me Hyukjae, if I wanted to make you suffer, I could. Lucky for you, I’m not in that sort of mood. I’ll have mercy. Just be grateful.”

“Heechul, please.” Hyukjae looked at him with pleading eyes. The desperation apparent in his quaking orbs.

Heechul shook his head and positioned himself at an angle that better allowed him to get a good shot. “We have to get the gunpowder residue on your hand.” He brought Hyukjae’s hand up to hold the gun.

Hyukjae took a deep breath. He was about to open his mouth to let out a scream. Heechul, holding Hyukjae’s finger in place over the trigger, pulled. There was a muffled sound of air passing through the barrel of the gun, and into the suppressor, eventually dissipating in its foam lining, followed by the sound of the cracking of Hyukjae’s cranium. The hollow point bullet flowered in the flesh of his brain and stopped somewhere close to the opposite temple. Hyukjae never got the chance to let out the sound that would have been his salvation.

Heechul stood over him. A smile crept onto his face.

He went back to the bathroom. Using the cleaning supplies he found under the sink, he wiped down the surfaces he had touched during his visit.

He went back to the living room and finished watching a few more episodes of the drama they had been watching on Netflix. One played after another. He was caught up in the story when he noticed it was already dark outside. He had been waiting for the cover of darkness to make his exit, unseen.

He was about to leave when a noise coming from one of the bedrooms caught his attention. There was a scratching at the door. ‘.’ He slowly approached the door and opened it. Heechul’s eyes traveled down as there was no one at his eye level. Choco stared at him from the floor. 

He looked to the living room where Hyukjae’s body still sat on the armchair, then back down at Choco. He thought about letting the dog loose in the front yard but quickly dismissed the idea as soon as he pictured her being hit by a car. Then he thought of leaving her in the backyard but dismissed that idea because it was too cold out at night. Feeling empathy for the poor creature that he couldn’t feel for people, he decided he couldn’t just leave her to fend for herself.

Heechul went over to where Hyukjae sat slumped over. He reached into Hyukjae’s pocket and produced his cell phone. He sat back on the couch. Taking out a card from his wallet, he dialed the number.

“Hello. You’ve reached the crisis line. My name is Kyuhyun. What may I call you?”

That momentarily stopped him in his tracks. There was no way he could mistake that voice for someone else’s. Then the name confirmed it. He pushed his shock aside and calmly replied, “Hyukjae.”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Heechul lay in bed. He wasn’t sleepy. He went through his every step when he was at Hyukjae’s house, making sure he didn’t overlook anything. He had a lot to think about, which was all the more reason to be careful in his review.

His thoughts led him back to the one person he knew would be up at this ungodly hour. Both had shared a night owl’s bond, keeping each other company into the early hours of the morning.

Heechul had been told by this good friend of his to follow his dreams, to get himself out of the rut and pursue his desires. He tried to stop himself in the past but it was with the encouragement of his dear friend that he grew brave enough to go through with his first murder. It felt right. It was all he wanted to do since he was a kid and he finally gave in. He felt as if he had been set free after years of captivity; only, his captivity kept others safe. He had been holding on by a thread to the type of behavior that was admissible by society. Now, he did as he wished, to a certain extent. He still had to live amongst people, so he had to make sure he wasn’t caught if he wanted to continue to pursue his interest.

He had confided in his friend. It wasn’t easy to leave but they understood that it had to be that way.

Heechul smiled. ‘It felt so good to hear his voice… I wonder if he still lives at the same place. I should pay him a visit. Enough time has passed. I miss him anyway. He may be a brat but he’s possessed by my taste.’

Not a cloud in the sky. 55°