Hyukjae offered to treat Donghae to his favourite food at Taco5 for dinner to take his mind off the case for a while, and the inspector was quite grateful for the distraction. They exited the restaurant happily, Hyukjae being all excited to show Donghae his favourite ice cream shop across the street. As the pedestrian light turned green, Hyukjae noticed a familiar tall and dark figure hurrying across the street, nearly knocking over a few other people in his haste. At once he thought about the peculiar figure he’d been shadowing a day or two before that gave him the slip in the end. Hyukjae tugged on Donghae arm and gestured for them to hurry after the dark figure.

“What’s up?” the inspector whispered, as they neared the other end of the street. “Weren’t we getting ice cream?”

“Uhh, sorry babe, the ice cream will have to wait,” Hyukjae said. “I need to shadow someone.”

The dark figure in front seemed to be quite wary about his surroundings, always looking left and right as he strode forward hastily. Hyukjae and Donghae made sure to keep a safe distance between the man and themselves. When they swung around a corner, the man suddenly vanished. Hyukjae blinked in surprise and was about to call out when Donghae hushed him and dragged him towards the wall.

There was a tiny, dark alley between two shop lots, easily missed if anyone wasn’t paying attention. The figure was in there, talking to another person. He had wide-set eyes, a narrow, unkempt face with equally matching narrow eyes, chin-length curly hair that looked like it had seen cleaner days, and a long, scraggly and bumpy scar from the left side of his face down to the side of his neck. He was medium-built, about the same height as the dark figure and was accepting a small bag from the other, probably containing a huge wad of money, the inspector deduced. Something struck Donghae odd as he squinted at the scarred man. He knew he had seen the face before, perhaps in one of the file cases he’d handled last time. What was he doing out here in an alley accepting money from someone else? Did they just witness a drug transaction or was there an innocent explanation to all of this?

Hyukjae gasped softly when he saw the dark figure’s hands. They were wrapped in fresh bandages. Hyukjae knew of anoth