SHINee, "Sherlock (Clue + Note), Sherlock (2012)

“Now when you mentioned bringing him back to Hyerin-sshi’s apartment, I didn’t assume we’d literally be dragging him back.”

“Oh stop complaining Bobby,”

“Why don’t you try carrying him then?”

“Shut up Hanbin, we’re here.” Hyerin scoffed as she shook her keys in her hands.

Bobby had always wondered what the life of a good, studious university student must be like; the dorms, the parties, the crazy work-load, even the campus. He figured he'd always be left wondering - Hyerin seemed perfectly recluse. Not only was she a tech-freak with a knack for hacking, but Hyerin lived off-campus, which was lucky for them because it meant no prying eyes of other students.

He grunted and groaned as he, Hanbin and Jinhwan hauled the unconscious body of L.Joe up the long flight of stairs and along the corridor to Hyerin’s apartment.

“Gee, how much could a mercenary from an outer-lying company weigh?” Bobby questioned as Hyerin fumbled about with her keys.

“I don’t know,” Jinhwan sighed, “But I don’t wanna’ imagine how much his bosses must weigh.”

“Will you hurry up and open that door?” Hanbin pestered Hyerin.

She turned and sent him a meaningful glare before opening the door in silence. Bobby whistled awkwardly as she stormed into her apartment, followed by a very unimpressed-looking Nari.

Bobby looked to his best friend, “I’m guessing that night in the hospital was filled with heart-warming exchanges?”

Hanbin sighed loudly before leading the boys into the apartment without another word.

“I for one, do not want to know what happened there,” Bobby pulled a face.

Jinhwan hummed quietly in response. Bobby just couldn’t work out what was going on with his friends today – he just assumed they were tired.

“Dump it here,” Nari ordered the boys once they’d entered the apartment, pointing to the sofa as Hyerin quickly laid a protective sheet across it, “We need to begin questioning.”

“And when do we do that, do you suppose?” Hanbin asked. He counted to three and all together, the boys hauled the unconscious guy onto the sofa, panting from exhaustion.

“When he wakes up,” Nari shrugged as she stood there, cleaning her gun out. She looked awfully mean, Bobby thought, with her dark hair tied up, her leather jacket and combat boots, cleaning her gun out intimidatingly. He shivered and averted his eyes.

“How long do you suppose that’ll be?” Hyerin asked impatiently as she got a carton of milk out from her fridge, “I have classes in the afternoon – I want you gone by then.”

“Not soon enough,” Nari sighed as she perched on the edge of the sofa. She began to shake L.Joe, getting more and more aggressive before she full-on slapped him – but to no avail, he remained soundly asleep. 

“Ah screw this,” Bobby cursed as he approached Hyerin, “I’m not gonna’ just sit here and wait,” He snatched the milk carton out of Hyerin’s hands and threw it over L.Joe’s face.

Bobby smirked when L.Joe snapped back into consciousness, panting and gasping for air as he looked around in sheer panic.

“For crying out loud, you got milk on the panelling!” Hyerin complained as she appeared diligently with a mop in hand.

“Oh, stop complaining already,” Hanbin groaned under his breath from next to Bobby.

“How unorthodox,” Nari scoffed as she sent Bobby a condescending look, stepping back to admire the scene. He narrowed his eyes at her cockiness. He couldn’t stand her ‘I’m better than you’ attitude. Even if she was miles out of his league – experience-wise of course.

“Wha- Wha- Where am I?” L.Joe panicked as he processed everyone’s faces in recognition. This panic was made worse when Red Velvet entered the apartment, “You’re all supposed to be dead?!”

“What a warm welcoming,” Seulgi scoffed, making a resting place out of the floor.

Irene placed her gun on the nearby table, warningly, before joining her sister, “The perimeter’s clear,”

“Good,” Nari sighed before observing her latest target across the room, “What to do with this one?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Jinhwan asked from besides Hyerin, “Get what we can out of him, then get rid of him.”

Nari rolled her eyes at Jinhwan, “I was speaking figuratively, .” Bobby scoffed at how easily Nari shut down his brother, more so when she scared the life out of L.Joe with a single look.

“She sure is a nice one…” Jinhwan sighed.

“You don’t even know the half of it,” Bobby shook his head in response, “You haven’t even seen her in a bad mood.”

“I could think of worse people to piss off,” Jinhwan scoffed, glancing towards Hyerin as she finished cleaning milk off of her floor.

“Now, we can do this the easy way or- wait,” Hanbin chuckled melodramatically, as he appeared on the other side of the hostage, “There is no other way.”

“And this good-cop, bad-cop routine doesn’t exist here,” Irene said coolly as she admired her gun, lounged across the sofa, her legs dangling over Wendy, “We’re all bad guys.”

L.Joe still appeared scared from the environment he had no preparation for, “Tell me something I don’t already know.” Bobby could still see the fear in his eyes, hear the tinge it had on his voice.

“Well,” Bobby stepped forth, “Your little stunt at the Mayor’s Party pissed off a lot of people. That includes us guys, who happen to be from the two biggest crime families in South Korea.”

“And when you piss of two groups of people with a lot in common,” Hanbin explained, “You give them a common enemy.”

L.Joe sighed, resting his head back on the sofa and closing his eyes, “I’m guessing I’m not getting out of here alive then?”

Bobby felt pity for the guy. Clearly his group were small, riding on the successes and objectives of whoever was orchestrating the plot; but he wasn’t prepared for this, no amount of investment could give him the nerve he was trying to pass off as having.

He’s just a small fish caught up in a big pond.

But Nari was having none of this. Her chuckling from the other end of the sofa was menacing in itself. For one second, Bobby saw her as the mythological figure she was always made out to be, as she perched there, cleaning her gun out, a devilish, crooked smile on her plump lips. L.Joe looked up then, his eyes bulging in sheer terror as they landed on

“Your life doesn’t matter to us, that’s for sure,” She smiled as she popped the magazine back in her gun, “But whether you can change that- well, it all depends on how good a boy you are for us.”

L.Joe sighed, “Whatever. I don’t have anything you want.”

“Who else was there the night of the attack?” Hanbin asked, ignoring his claim, “How many other were there? How many other groups?”

“Well, let me think about it,” L.Joe pondered for a moment, before cackling, “I can’t- no, I won’t tell you that.”

Bobby couldn’t stand the hostage’s lack of cooperation. It was all an act. He could see right through it, see the true fear that radiated beneath the surface. It made him angrier by the second, just seeing that arrogant smirk on his face.

“Who exactly were you all targeting that night?” Irene demanded, ever patient despite L.Joe’s arrogance, but her eyes were ice-cold, “What was the purpose of killing all those people?”

“Don’t ask me,” L.Joe shrugged, “Ask the boss. I just follow orders.”

That made Bobby snap.

“Following orders?” He spat as he lurched forwards, balling L.Joe’s shirt in his fist, “Is that all people are ever good for? Even when they kill people with families, their own problems and dreams, without bothering to ask themselves what they get out of it?”

Bobby couldn’t stand witnessing his arrogance after he’d hospitalised his friends. Friends he’d spent years training alongside, friends he’d grown up with and fought with. It was his finger that pulled ever trigger, fired every gunshot, and killed every person, therefore it was always going to be his choice.

There’s no such thing as just following orders.

It was when Nari stood close to Bobby, her hand pressed warningly on his arm, where his hand was raised in a fist that he snapped out of his sudden rage. She sent him a meaningful look and a nod of the head. It was all it took for Bobby to release L.Joe and lower his fist.

She wanted answers just as much as he did. He couldn’t let his anger get the better of him. He was just shocked that he listened to Nari more than anything. He wouldn’t make that error again.

“Isn’t ironic?” L.Joe chuckled menacingly, “We’re all liars and killers, in the name of liars and killers? At the end of the day, we’re all made by our orders, so you can get off of you high throne, Kim Bobby.”

Bobby didn’t hesitate in throwing a knock-out punch to L.Joe.

Everyone sighed and looked at bobby disappointedly when Seulgi confirmed his unconsciousness.

“I got sick of his voice,” Bobby shrugged, giving himself a minute to cool down as he sat on a sofa.

“You know what?” Nari asked coldly, tension building in her voice, “You might as well beat the crap out of him till he’s dead, and then ask him what he knows!”

“Well it was better than just sitting and wait for him to feel like telling us everything he knew!”

“If you’re so worried about time, you should be the one to sit by him until he wakes up!” Nari spat as she took a confrontational step closer to Bobby, “If you stare at him really closely, I think he might just wake up faster!”

Bobby’s fists tensed up at her sarcasm, but more so at her patronising attitude. He knew he couldn’t wouldn’t stand Nari much longer if she continued this way. A part of him regretting dragging her out of that car in the river. He didn’t save her life 3 times now just for her to berate him. It annoyed him how easily she seemed to have forgotten that.

“Brr, you two have got some warming up to do if we’re to continue this investigation,” Seulgi chuckled as she leaned back against the sofa, a beer somehow appearing in her hand as she casually sipped from it.

“Hopefully, it won’t be that long.” Bobby grunted before storming out of the apartment, leaving the rest of the group in an envelope of sheer awkwardness.

He sighed and hit his head repeatedly against the wall outside the apartment, somehow hoping it would purge the angry thoughts from his head.

“Calm down, calm down Jiwon…” He chanted to himself, his eyes squinted shut and fists still clenched by his side.

Bobby couldn’t stand the way Nari so easily got under his skin. He knew he didn’t have the best temper, but where his enemies and rivals still struggled to get a reaction, she made pissing Bobby off child’s play. He hated how weak she made him look, but he also realised he didn’t help himself by storming out like a child.

But worst of all?

She was right.

“Hey, you oaky?” Hanbin asked concernedly, leaning on the wall next to his best friend.

“Now I am,” Bobby smiled slightly, putting on a brave face despite the angered racing of his pulse, “You?”

Hanbin pulled a face, “Could be better. Working with the same girls we’ve been fighting against for so long is not a comfort, but at least it’s progress.”

“You call this progress?”

Hanbin raised an eyebrow, “Why wouldn’t I?”

Bobby shrugged, “I’m sick of the waiting. It’s all I’ve ever seemed to do. I waited for us to finish the Training period, Probation, and the first proper piece of action our team get, and I’m still waiting.”

“I get it Jiwon, it’s frustrating,” Hanbin sighed as he brushed a hand through his hair, “But in this world, I guess patience is a virtue needed. You see what happens to people who run in, guns blazing, right?”

“Whatever man,” Bobby sighed, uncomfortably seeing the parallels with himself in his best friend’s words, “Let’s just get back in there and wait this out.”

Bobby walked into the apartment, with a cooler head than before, and he wasn’t surprised to see the groups had gone off to do their own thing. Wendy and Irene were busy seeing to each other’s slight wounds over in the kitchen area, whilst Seulgi watched L.Joe, dabbing a tissue to his bleeding wounds every so often as she sipped from her beer-bottle absent-mindedly.

“Where’d you get the beer from?” Bobby asked Seulgi, forgetting all formalities seeing they were allies for the time being. She nodded him towards the fridge without a word. Awkwardly slipping past the girls and grabbing three beers and popping the lids with an opening, Bobby immediately felt relief when he felt the good drink trickle down his throat. It took a lot to get Bobby drunk, but a whole lot less to get him relaxed.

“Thanks man,” Hanbin said before drinking some of his own beer.

“You’re really drinking at Twelve-Oh-Four in the evening?” Wendy asked with a sneer.

Hanbin sent her a look, “If it wasn’t for you girls, we’d be out bar crawling at this time.”

Wendy scoffed and shook her head with a nasty look on her face.

That’s SM elitism for you.

“Where’s Jinhwan?” Bobby asked, gesturing to the other beer bottle in his hand.

Hanbin led Bobby through the seemingly ordinary apartment into a room that was every teach-freak’s dream, but every normal person’s nightmare. All around the room, there were numerous flat-screen TV’s, all manner of computers stationed at a desk, the very chair Hyerin sat in appearing to double as a gaming station. Wires dragged across every visible inch of the room, computer parts and what-not cluttered about the room. Yet beneath the mess, there was some sense of organisation to the chaos. Bobby half-considered moving or breaking something to see if the crazy waitress girl would notice.

“I’m guessing you’ve snapped out of your tantrum,” Hyerin scoffed as she registered Bobby’s presence before turning back to her computers. Nari giggled at her new-friend’s wit, Bobby’s hand clenched around his beer bottle.

“You want a drink, Hyung?” Bobby held the bottle to Jinhwan, who perched on the computer desk, close to Hyerin. He looked at it for a second before shaking his head earnestly.

Nari looked at Bobby, condescending, wrinkled-nose look as per usual.

“You want it?” Bobby smirked, a mere moment’s reminiscence about her order at the Mayor’s Ball.

And the time you danced together.

Nari looked at it for a second, a hint of uncertainty registering in her dark eyes, before ignoring the question and turning back to the screen.

“I’ll have it!” Hyerin piped up as she reached and snatched up the bottle from Bobby’s hand before he even had a chance to claim it as his own.

Bobby looked back at Nari, confused as to her strange behavi