12 Hours Ago

"Are you sure you don't want me to call you cab, CEO Jeon?"

The 40 year old woman, dressed in pearls and a pink suit shook her head with a tense smile and glanced at her phone.

"I'll be fine, Lim, you can head home, I already have my ride."

Her assistant nodded with a bow, "Then I'll be going home first. Have a good day, ma'am."

She hummed with a nod as her assistant exited the room and glanced once more at her phone. She chewed on her lip while she re-read the text message.

Come alone, bring the money.

She lifted a small black bag out from under the table before letting out a breath and heading out the back door.

-----

"Do you have her name?"  Sang Hee asked as she snapped a pair of latex gloves on.

The medical examiner pushed her glasses up her nose with her red velvet coloured hair tied up in a ponytail.

She looked up at squinted at Sang Hee, "You're the newbie, right?"

Sang Hee inwardly cringed at the name. she wanted to be known as more than the new kid.

She wanted to prove Himchan wrong.

She was more than just a desk eater.

She still smiled and bowed politely, "Nice to meet you."

The woman nodded. She was quite young for her age and beautiful as well. "Same here. I'm Chae Mi, I guess I'll be seeing you around a lot more. It's refreshing to see another woman instead of these men's faces."

"I know." Sang Hee said with a smile.

The ME looked back at the body before lifting up a plastic bag and handing it out to her. "I found this in her pocket. It might shed some light."

Sang Hee took the plastic bag from her and stared at the contents. It was a driver's license.

"Jeon Jang Mi." Sang Hee stared at the name before her eyes lit up, "Wait, Jeon Jang Mi as in CEO Jeon from the acting agency?"

Chae Mi nodded, "Between me and you, I sent in an application and even got called down to audition when I was in highschool."

Sang Hee's eyes widened, "Seriously? And you didn't get it? That's hard to believe."

Chae Mi looked back at the body with a smile, "Actually, I got signed as a trainee."

"No way." Sang Hee gasped.

Chae Min chuckled, "100% true. But I dropped out after a while. It seemed fun at first but it wasn't what I was really into. I don't think I could live the life of a celebrity."

Sang Hee shook her head in awe, "That's amazing. I think the most I ever did was do those uniform photo shoots in highschool."

Sang Hee looked at the corpse, "So how did she die?"

Chae Mi tilted her head, "I need to take the body back to the lab to do a more in depth analysis. But as of now, it looks like she suffered from two gunshot wounds to the stomach and died from bleeding out. Time of death looks like around 9PM last night."

"We sent uniforms to tape off the area and go door to door looking for witnesses." Chin Hwae said blankly while shoving his hands in his pockets as he walked up to them.

Dong Chul surveyed the crime scene, his eyes scanning the woman in the pink suit and expensive pearls.

"Where's her wallet?"

Chae Mi stood up, "Wallet, key and hand bag are all here. We sent it in for evidence."

"So it wasn't a robbery. She even has her necklace on." He pointed out.

"What about her phone?"

Chae Mi looked back down at the body, "There was no phone on the body when we got here."

Sang Hee bit on her lip, "What is a rich CEO doing in this part of Seoul?"   

"We should probably split up and go to her house and interview the people at the company." Chin Hwae suggested.

Sang Hee looked around, noticing something missing.

Or someone.

"Where's Himchan?"

Chae Min snorted while picking up her bag, "Your Himchan's new partner?"

Sang Hee nodded, "I am."

Something flickered in her eyes, almost like she wanted to roll her eyes as her face darkened. Chae Mi walked passed Sang Hee. "Good luck with that."

Sang Hee opened but said nothing as she turned to Dong Chul and Chin Hwae in confusion.

"What was that about?"

"Let's just say that not everyone is impervious to Himchan's good looks as you seem to be."

Sang Hee scrunched her face up, "Wh--"

"Scorned lovers." Dong Chul said dramatically.

Chin Hwae shook his head, "Except for them to be lovers, he'd actually have to have given her the time of day. She liked him, he didn't even know her name."

Sang Hee rolled her eyes, "Why am I not surprised?" But then she frowned, "Seriously, though. Where is he?"

Dong Chul puffed his cheeks out, "Probably around somewhere. He normally goes off on his own to look around the crime scene. It's kind of his thing."

Chin Hwae patted her on the back, "Me and Dong Chul are going to get a ride from one of the detectives here and go check out her house. You and Himchan should go by the company."

"Maybe you guys will bond." Dong Chul said with a bright smile.

"Or kill each other. It could really go either way. We'll see you around." Chin Hwae called out as the two of them walked away.

Sang Hee put her hands on her hips and stared at the CEO Jeon's body before turning away.

She kicked the gravel before walking around the perimeter, looking for her partner. She walked into an alley way when she saw a chain link fence blocking the exit.

Thinking it was a dead end, she was about to turn back away when she felt something fall on her shoulder.

She looked up and gaped at the sight ahead of her.

Himchan, was walking along the fence while tilting his head up, looking at something on the corner of the building.

"Have you evolved backwards?" She asked in annoyance.

Himchan jumped and looked down at her before creasing his brows, "Excuse me?"

She pointed at him, "Are you monkey? What are you even doing?"

He smirked, "This, tiger, is what they call innovation."

"Stop calling me that." She barked in annoyance.

Himchan chuckled. It had been a while since he was around someone that got so riled up just based on his words.

He almost forgot how much fun it was.

Why waste time trying to be mean and rude when he could just annoy the hell out of her?

"Why?" He asked while tilting his head. "Isn't that what you are? A spineless tiger?"

"I'm not spineless." She snapped while digging her nails into her palm.

"I'm not convinced." He fired back.

Sang Hee gave him a bored look, "That's your problem, not mine. What the hell are you doing up there, anyways? The body is down here."

"The ME is the person in charge of the dead body. We're in charge for looking for the living person who did it." He said while dusting off his hands.

Sang Hee leaned against the  brick wall and watched him tap his lip while staring at the security camera that was propped up.

His face was taunt and his eyes was sharp as he thought to himself while mindlessly hooking his finger on the dog tags that hung over his thin tie.

She looked away in a huff.

He was really good looking when he wasn't being  mean to her.

It was annoying.

"We need to go to the agency  and interview the people there." She muttered.

Himchan hummed, "Hey tiger, did you know  that every alleyway on this street has a security camera except the one where Jeon died?"

Sang Hee's eyes flickered to him in surprise, "So I'm guessing it's not a coincidence."

"Exactly." He crouched and stuck his hand out, "Give me a hand."

Sang Hee stared at his fingers before looking up at him with a smile, "You got up there just fine. I'm sure you can get down too."

Himchan blinked at her before scoffing and jumping down, "See, this is why I don't  like you."

Sang Hee patted him on the shoulder, "I'm sure you'll get over it."

He rolled his eyes before he started to walk, "Anything interesting on the body?"

Sang Hee followed him as he headed back to their car, "It has the makings of a robbery. Two solid gunshots but everything valuable she had was untouched, except for her phone."

"So it wasn't a random mugging gone wrong." Himchan mumbled to himself as he unlocked the doors.

Sang Hee put her arms on the top of his car and stared at him over the vehicle, "Her agency is home to some of the biggest actors and actresses in the nation. A lot of them are successful overseas too. So why would she need to be in such a shady part of Seoul at 9 at night? Dressed  like that, she'd be a walking target."

Himchan stared at her face as his mind whirred, "So there must be a reason why she came down here."

"And whoever killed her knew the reason and knew how to kill her away from the security cameras which means they must know this area pretty well." Sang Hee said before getting into the seat beside him.

Himchan looked at her with a masked expression before putting the car in gear.

"Looks like there's something in that brain of yours after all, tiger."

-----

After a stubbornly silent drive over, the pair walked into the CityLife Entertainment and were immediately greeted by tall ceilings and expensive looking décor. Everything was either made of glass or steel and the whole placed scream 'money'.

"Excuse me?"

Sang Hee and Himchan turned around and faced a woman in her mid forties dressed in an expensive looking blue and gold blazer with her hair styled and fierce makeup applied. She was wearing tight white pants and stilettos that would make any fashionista cry.

Sang Hee bowed in confusion, "Can we help you?"

"You must be one of the rookies."

Sang Hee blinked at the woman and glanced at Himchan who looked unbothered. "I'm sorry?"

The woman scanned Sang Hee from head to toe, "I didn't know Jeon was going to be so quick about it. It looks like she isn't going for her typical girl next door concepts either. Interesting."

"I'm sorry but what exactly are you talking about?" Sang Hee asked when the woman tapped her cheek.

"I heard a rumour that Jeon was signing new actresses and you must be one of them."

Suddenly in clicked.

Sang Hee could stop the cocky smile on her face as she rolled her shoulders back and tilted her head up. She was mistaken for an actress.

Hell yeah.

"Well, I wouldn't exactly call myself an actress." She said while brushing her hair back.

The woman nodded in understanding, "Oh, I see, you must be a model that she signed to be an actress. That's the trend nowadays isn't it?"

She cleared and batted her lashes, "Well, I haven't exactly signed anywhere yet."

Himchan gaped at Sang Hee who was flipping her hair while cocking her hip to the side as if she was posing for a photo shoot. He wanted to burst out laughing at her but then his eyes trailed down her body.

He never really noticed in the short time that he had been around her.

She had a really nice body.

He scrunched his face up and looked away, feeling uncomfortable from looking at her like that. She was supposed to be his partner and even though he wasn't a fan of the idea, he felt weird looking at her like that.

It felt intrusive and rude.

But it wasn't like he liked her or anything.    

Sang Hee smiled brightly, smoothing her hair down. She daintily covered her lips as she giggled, trying accentuate her eye smile and cheekbones. 

Himchan rolled his eyes and shook his head.

You've got to be kidding me.

"Really?" The woman asked, intrigued, "Well, in that case you must meet with my me. My company would be very interested in signing you."

Sang Hee smiled, "That's a kind offer bu--"

"You and you manager must come down to my agency. I can spot talent from a mile away and darling, I can make you a star." The woman said while shaking a well manicured finger.

Sang Hee