Twenty Six. 

 

Wonshik didn't even look for a key under the mat before his foot met the pristine white door and he knocked it open with a swoosh of air. He entered, with his gun drawn and aimed in front of him in case Ji Yong was still here. He was met with a dark hallway, complete still and silent. And that filled him with dread. 

 

He took quick but careful steps, eyes roaming the living room as he entered. He continued and it didn't seem as though much was out of place. He took another few steps before hearing a distinct 'crunch' beneath his feet. He looked down and saw the remains of a phone, that looked utterly destroyed now. It must be Hakyeon's cell. He glanced up and saw a stain in the carpet, from the doorway to the kitchen, drag marks in red. He couldn't believe that he had just missed them up until now. 

 

He sighed slightly and then turned towards the kitchen. Once he entered he bit his lip hard at the sight. Glass was smashed on the floor and he was certain that there had been a struggle here. Probably between Hakyeon and Ji Yong. He was certain now that he'd been talking to Hakyeon's mystery idol brother on the phone now. 

 

However the thing that made Wonshik the most nervous in the room was the dark patch of red blood that had began to seep into the tiles near the kitchen counter. He didn't know who's blood that was or how badly they were hurt but he knew that from the amount of blood that was there he had to find them and do it quickly. 

 

He checked the remainder of the rooms, the bedroom where not long ago he and the other members of the task force had slept over at the elders apartment and the bathroom before he found himself back in the living room looking back over the entire apartment. He sighed in exasperation, for Hakyeon was certainly not here. 

 

For now there was nothing that he could do. But he'd find them both. He knew he would. 

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It was dark and deserted by time Wonshik made it back to the precinct, there were hardly any people on the main floor. There were some late night workers that were tucked away in their offices. Most of the people that worked night shifts were out of patrol in cruisers. 

 

He went straight to the basement, down towards their room but paused when he heard sounds from an open door to his left. He blinked when he glanced inside, only to see the photographer of their group slumped over a wooden desk, sleeping in a strange position from his chair. Wonshik watched him and let a little smile form on his face despite their situation. He sighed and entered the room, whilst he took his phone from his jacket. He needed to make some calls. 

 

Just as he was about to hit the call button his eyes wandered back over to the brunette. Wonshik sighed and removed his coat before throwing it over the younger boys shoulders whilst he tilted his head. He still wanted to care for Hongbin, no matter who his family was and what they'd done. And he really wanted to tell Hongbin. He just didn't know when. Or more importantly how he should tell him. 

 

Wonshik shook his head as he looked away, walking to the far corner of the room, as not to disturb the sleeping male. Wonshik could tell that he'd been pushing himself lately, trying to help as much as he could. It was kind of endearing really. He hoped that soon all this hard work would pay off for them. 

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Taekwoon had gotten back to watching the video tape a little over an hour ago.  Ken had managed to stay awake and besides him throughout although he was paying less attention to the footage and more attention to whatever it was he was drawing. 

 

Taekwoon had only glanced over once or twice to check on his partner. He'd caught little glimpses and had merely raised a brow at the strange shapes. He couldn't deny that Jaehwan was indeed very talented. He supposed that his attitude somehow contributed o his creativity. Taekwoon thought that was a good trait though. 

 

His eyes had been glued to the screen for a long time now and he felt himself getting a little tired. The thing with watching hours of film was that the colours never changed and the tone didn't either. It was one tone constantly. That didn't bother Taekwoon. Not until now at least. 

 

He rubbed at his eyes, debating whether or not to pause the film and go get another coffee (After long finishing the latte that Jaehwan had acquired for him) before he paused, eyes snapping back to the screen. 

 

The time stamp read Friday 6:00pm. At the moment it was just Young-mi in the store, this was the night she went missing, he realised. The door to the store opened and a man entered, wearing a hat, a snapback specifically. It covered part of his face as he turned his back to the camera, disappearing into the aisles but not before Young-Mi gave the customer a warm smile. 

 

Taekwoon watched, just as he had with every other customer that had entered the store on both Friday and Thursday. It was a few minuted later that the man rocked up to the counter, holding a few odd bod items in either of his hands and then stood having a short conversation with the seemingly kind cashier woman. 

 

After the transaction was done the man turned with a small wave towards the woman, red plastic bag in his right hand as he turned now in full view of the camera. As the man turned, Taekwoon caught sight of a small detail about the man that he hadn't noticed before. There hidden easily by the long black sleeve of his shirt on his left hand was a slim white cast. He blinked at the similar sounding sentence before his mind flashed back to one of the groups first official meetings which actually felt like years ago.