Title: SM-5 The Perfect Mystery 

Genre: Romance, Comedy, Mystery, Angst, Action 

Ratings: All ages 

Case #01: V o i c e

Part 3

~~~ 

  “I hate your car.”

  It was the first remark that came out of the moment she stepped into his sleek red Ferarri, tugging on the seatbelt as hard as she could, but to no avail. Laughing gently, he leaned over and helped her strap the seatbelt over her thin frame, as she frowned with much dissatisfaction.

  “A very nice morning greeting, Im Yoona.” Minho chuckled good-naturedly. Over the past few days he had seen the different sides of Yoona, and he was very much amused. No matter how much she insulted him, or how much she made her mistakes, he just couldn’t bring himself to hate her for it all. However, he was entertained by her. “So, what’s the reason now?”

  Yoona’s frown deepened as he drove off, making a loud noise. “It’s noisy, it’s so showy, it’s so short, and there’s you inside it.”

  He found himself laughing loudly at her comment, which just made her frown even more. She gave him a withering look as she took her notebook out of her bag, looking through it, as she focused on exactly what she was supposed to do that day, trying to ignore the fact that there was this stupid, moronic, and idiotic noob who was going to accompany her.

  “So, Miss Im, what is our itinerary for today?” He asked her with a cheerful smile. “Shall we go to the forensics, shall we head to our crime scene, or shall we take a stroll down the Han River?”

  She raised an eyebrow skeptically. “Why the Han River?”

  “Date.”

  “Moron.” She rolled her eyes. “We’re going to go see Jessica Jung. And make sure you park far, far, far away from the agency, don’t attract attention from the staff like you did last time. I was so happy I didn’t go on your car then.”

  He nodded comically. “Yes, Miss Im. So that means we still get to stroll together towards the agency, don’t we?”

  His cheek and nerve earned him a well-deserved punch from one pissed off choding.

~~~

  “I feel sorry that we left Kyuhyun behind today.” Victoria chuckled, sitting next to Changmin in his black sedan, as it sped through the highway. “He’s got a whole load of data to handle, and I wanted to give him a hand.”

  Changmin broke into a wide smile. “The case is rather tough, but throughout the way, whether you’re going to believe it or not, I’m beginning to enjoy it, bit by bit.”

  Victoria nodded amicably. “That’s good. Truthfully, I’m beginning to see the bright side as well, as tiring as it is.” She smiled fondly. “To see Minho and Yoona work hard and support each other, no matter how much they squabble, to help Kyuhyun the perfectionist with his large piles of data…”

  “Yoona doesn’t know yet though…” Changmin shook his head. “As daft as she is, she still doesn’t know about Minho. But anyway, the both of them will leave soon, won’t they? And then, we’ll have to really search for more agents.”

  Victoria suppressed a chuckle. “It sounds like the case is ending, though we’re still going in no direct direction.” She touched her handbag. “I’ll miss them when they’re gone. They’ve done a swell job so far…”

  “You’re staying though, right?”

  She beamed. “Of course, for quite a while, I guess you’ll have to put up with me for a while more.”

  “I never thought of it as putting up, though. It’s been much of a joy.”

  “…I’m glad to hear that.”

~~~

  “Jessica Jung?” Minho took the chance to make the introduction, as Yoona had blatantly ‘stolen’ the moment from him the last time. “We’re here again from the Seoul Metropolitan Department, we were wondering if we could have a few more words with you about Jonghyun’s death?”

  The girl who had been sitting alone in the small practice room stood up in surprise, looking at them for a moment as she tried to recall them in her mind. She nodded gently, a bit disgruntled by the firm greeting Minho had used.

  “Sure…” Jessica murmured.

  “Minho, get out.” Yoona pushed him towards the door, and eventually out of the room. “Get out, out, out.”

  “Wait, wait, wait- why?” He let out several protests.

  “Because you won’t understand.”

  Slamming the door in his face, Yoona prepared herself mentally as she approached the girl, guiding her to the nearby table and sat down. She knew what she had to do, and no, she was sure she wouldn’t need Minho’s help this time. She’d blew up the other time, but she didn’t want to seem like she was completely useless to the investigation.

  She was going to prove her innocence on her own.

  “Look Miss Jung, I know you’re greatly affected by Jonghyun’s death, but I urgently need to as you a few questions.” Yoona said gently. “If anything feels uncomfortable, you don’t have to tell me, alright? But I’d appreciate it if you tell me every bit of what you know.”

  “I’m the prime suspect, aren’t I?” A bitter smile formed on her lips. “I’d bet everyone thinks I killed him out of spite, for some reason.” She shook her head slowly as she muttered to herself. “Like I would ever kill him.”

  “Miss Jung-“ Yoona looked around her, to make sure once more, that there was no one at all. “I want to say that I do not suspect you.”

  Jessica raised her eyebrows in surprise. “You don’t suspect me?”

  “I don’t.” Yoona nodded firmly. “However, I believe the key to this mystery lies in your hands. I would like to work closely with you, so we can solve this mystery as quickly as possible, and do justice to Jonghyun-shi, alright?”

  Yoona’s words seemed to have convinced Jessica a little bit more, as she gave a more willful nod. “I will do my best to answer your questions.”

 “Were you close to Kim Jonghyun?” Yoona asked slowly. “I know they asked you this already, but I’d like to ask you once more.”

  The girl in front of her took a deep breath, breaking into a painful smile, staring forlornly at the wall. “I suppose I was, maybe for awhile.” She chuckled awkwardly to herself. “Gosh, what am I saying? It’s been quite a while, like ever since he came into the company.”

  Yoona tried to smile, as she shifted uncomfortably. “What kind of person was he?”

  “He was wonderful, in many ways.” Jessica murmured to herself, that smile still etched upon her face. “He had a great sense of humor, and he could make anyone laugh, really, anyone. He wasn’t just a good person, but he was good at what he did.”

  “He was dating Shin Sekyung, wasn’t he?”

  “He was.” Jessica nodded, but a frown formed on her lips. “She’s very beautiful, outgoing, and in his definitions, she was rather perfect. It took him a lot of courage to confess to her, and she accepted him. Then they started dating…”

  Yoona decided to take a brave step. “Did you know if…he ever had relationship problems?”

  “How could he not?” Her laugh was bitter as she continued to stare out of the window. “Dating a perfect girl like that, there’s bound to be problems, right? I never actually saw them quarrel, but…he always told me the same thing.”

  “He did?”

  “’Love , Sica. Sometimes you fall in, and sometimes you fall out.’” Jessica whispered slowly. “I never knew what he meant, because he never talked about his real problems to me or anything. But I just guessed that maybe…most possibly, he was talking about Sekyung.”

  Yoona nodded, trying to be understanding as she saw tears fill Jessica’s eyes. “I’m sorry.” She didn’t even know why she was apologizing.

  “It’s alright.”Jessica shook her head as tears rolled down her cheeks. “There were many things I knew and didn’t know about Jonghyun, but since he’s dead now, I guess I’ll never be able to find out.”

  There was a certain pain in Jessica’s voice, Yoona knew, but she just didn’t want to question it any further. As long as she had lived, Yoona had always considered her instincts to be superior, above those of many others. She knew she couldn’t rely on instincts alone to solve this, but at the same time, if she didn’t use her instincts, she knew that she would be heading in the wrong directions.

  Suddenly, a thought popped into her mind. “Jessica-shi, you mentioned that you didn’t practice with him that morning…could you tell me why, possibly why, he had asked you to have a later practice that day?”

  “He said he had a song he wanted to practice, and he said that it hadn’t been recorded well enough.” Jessica tried to recall. “I’m not familiar with what he’s recorded, and what he hasn’t, but I think that day, he wanted to record the song on his own.”

  “I see…” Yoona sighed. Still no leads.

  Jessica grasped Yoona’s hands. “I don’t mind if the police suspects me, but I just want you to know, since you’ve taken this time to ask me this…I want you to know that no matter what, Jonghyun was one of my dearest friends, and the only thing I desire right now, is find out who killed him and why…someone like him had to be killed.”

  “I…”

  She was speechless, and she didn’t know what she could say any longer. The tears that flowed down Jessica’s cheeks, the way she said her words, the look in her eyes, Yoona could swear to herself that it wasn’t Jessica who killed Jonghyun. Once again, she knew it was her instincts working once more.

  She knew Victoria wouldn’t believe any of it, and neither would Minho. If she told them what she had said to Jessica, they would chide her for saying such things, for letting Jessica use her. But she knew, she just knew, that Jessica wasn’t using her. She knew Jessica was telling the truth, and she knew that underneath every word Jessica had said, there was pain, there was regret and there was guilt. But no, she didn’t need to know about it, she didn’t want to know it.

  All she needed to know, and did know, for sure, that Jessica did not kill Jonghyun.

~~~

  “Move that there, yes, there- wait no, there!”

  Victoria and Changmin were greeted by a booming female voice, as they entered the set of the upcoming music video that Star Entertainment were scheduled to produce. Park Hyomin stood in the middle with a clipboard, ordering the staff as she arranged the set, very much absorbed in her job.

  “She sure is helpful with her father’s business, isn’t she?” Victoria commented.

  Changmin chuckled. “It depends how you look at it, Victoria, that’s why I’ll need your analysis.” He shot her a knowing smile as they went forward together, walking up to Hyomin. “You seem extremely busy, Hyomin-shi!” Changmin called out as he approached her.

  The girl whirled around and broke into a wide smile as her eyes fell on the arriving Changmin and Victoria. “Changmin-shi!” Hyomin skipped down the set to greet them properly. “What brings you here today? Is there a