This is not what I signed up for……..

It’s been six months since I passed out from the police academy, hoping to kick some asses at my very first posting. Hell, I was the ‘Golden Maknae’ back then. My scores in physical training were top notch.  But all I have done till now is clean my senior’s desk and deliver their mails, be the boss’s coffee fairy, beat up some thugs who were bullying shopkeepers, assist in a measly murder case of a cheating husband, catch a couple of petty thieves who were stealing lingerie from unsuspecting women’s houses (That was fun actually…..Ahem! )

Anyways…… so yeah, I do have a ton of complaints regarding my job right now because I am sure this BOREDOM is not what I joined the police academy for. I had thought this job would be so much fun with high speed chases, high class criminals with drugs and stuff….. You catch my drift right?

“What ya staring at?” I heard a familiar voice, its source bending down, looking ahead in the direction where my gaze was fixed at.

But all I could see now was myself chasing a racing SUV on my motorbike at a frightening speed. Suddenly, it came to a stop and bullets started coming in my direction. Before I could duck the bullet shower, I felt a strong force on my head…..

“Ow” I winced and turned behind to glare at the perpetrator, “Hyung! What was that for?”

Jimin stood smiling cheekily with a newspaper roll in one hand, coffee mug in another, looking dashing as always in that uniform. Dang!

“Just a way to bring you out of your hot fantasies” he winked at me and then slipped past me to sit on the chair near his cubicle.

“FYI, I wasn’t fantasizing” I retorted. (Well, not until he came along.)

“Oh yeah?” the elder raised an eyebrow at me, “What were you up to when I came here?” he leaned his elbows on the desk, “Have you finally become a loony? Is that plain wall that attractive that you should lean on my cubicle and stare at it so intently?”

I blushed furiously, avoiding Jimin’s gaze as he started laughing at me in his high pitched voice. Honestly speaking, I wouldn’t have taken this lightly. But he was one of the few people who actually gave me in this place so I was okay with all his teasing.

And then I remembered my purpose of coming here in the first place.

“Hyung” I turned to look at him, “Did you get to know about the Gwacheon incident? .....This is the 4^th one isn’t it?”

“Hmm” Jimin unfolded the newspaper and shoved it towards me, “Read it.”

My eyes fell on the headline- “SERIAL KILLER ON THE LOOSE? 4^TH MURDER WITHIN A MONTH” Chills ran down my spine as my eyes skimmed down to the column which speculated upon the circumstances of how the body was found by a firefighter, even before the police could reach the site and of course, the heavy bashing of the KNPD with regards to the handling of this delicate issue.

“Hyung” I blurted out with my eyes fixed on the paper, “Isn’t it a bit similar to the case you are working on with Jonghyun sunbae right now? I mean….. Look at the details given here…… A homeless person found dead in a God forsaken area with a bullet hole in the chest….. Why would anyone even kill such people? They don’t even carry any money with them to begin with.”

“Seems like it” Jimin replied, pulling a chair beside him. “Sit” he smiled at me, motioning me to sit down. When I did, he bent forward towards me, speaking in a very low voice, “Don’t tell this to anyone, but I really do suspect some funny business in this….”

It was my turn to be baffled at the seriousness of his concern, “You mean it’s not some serial killer psycho ?”

“Maybe. Maybe not” Jimin said nonchalantly, “The man that we found…… he looked like a sure junkie with needle marks and all. But……. he also had a weird blue mark on his arm near the elbow. It looked like a bruise, just a grosser version of that. Honestly, to me, it didn’t look like a mark due to a fall or something.”

“The person here” I pointed at the picture, “apparently even he was a junkie, whose missing report had been filed six months back at Incheon station. They haven’t mentioned about a weird mark though……”

“Obviously they won’t reveal those details to the media, silly” Jimin hit me lightly on the head, “But for real, all these cases in Busan, Gwangju, Ilsan and now Gwacheon….. They seem to have a pattern. I just don’t know what….”

“Maybe the blue mark you are talking about?” I tried to reason. “Could the docs get anything out of it?”

“Negative” Jimin leaned back on his chair, his hands folded behind his head, “Seems like it would be sent to the SMPA’s labs. But guess what? Here is another buzz I heard last night….. Apparently, they are forming a special investigative unit back at the headquarters. It’s will be like those S.W.A.T. squadrons but with absolute authority, you know……… like a totally independent unit. How cool is that?”

“No kidding” I gaped at his words, inhaling a sharp breath, “There must be some real deep going on that they are planning on this step….”

Suddenly, I was cut short by a distinct cough nearby making both of us freeze at our seats. Hesitantly, both of us lifted our eyes to look at the erect figure in front of us, making us jump in our places on looking at him. “Good morning sir” we both spoke in unison as we bowed down to greet our not-so-pleased boss.

“Done with your chit-chat session?” Superintendent Lee folded his arms, watching us amusedly, “I thought both you guys must be out by this time on your patrols….”

“We were just going to head out sir” Jimin said sheepishly, his hands folded behind, “It’s just that we were discussing about this case and……”

“And you were making ridiculous theories of your own, weren’t you?” our boss, continued in his mocking voice, making us shrink a bit, “Make yourselves useful for once…. Come to my cabin right now. I have a task for you both……..” He almost headed in the direction of his room when he turned to face me, “Jungkook?”

“Yes sir” I replied in the perkiest way I could, looking up at him, my hands still folded behind. He pointed at his expensive watch making me almost frown at him. I knew what that action meant.

“Americano today- iced. One sugar” and he finally left us, heading towards his room in big strides.

My shoulders slumped automatically. “Ya!” Jimin pushed me from behind, “Get his coffee quickly. Run!”

“But hyung~”

“Ya Jeon Jungkook! You wanna go back to chasing thieves again? No? Then run fast…. I don’t want to get demoted because of you" and this time, he pushed me harder towards the exit, leaving me no choice but to do as I was told to. Stupid Jimin!

I am a man of my mind. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work out here in my office. Talk about being the easy-to-shove-around Maknae. I sighed as I ran outside to the café to get my almighty boss’s order. He could have easily gotten that coffee when he was coming in right? Will it taste better when I give it to him? I don’t think I will ever understand his logic……

When my order was finally done with, I ran back to the boss’s cabin, where Jimin was waiting for me anxiously. Seeing me brightened his mood as he smiled at me with relief, making me stop for a second. He really was cute (“Get your together Jungkook”, I slapped myself lightly.) He then straightened himself, his expression becoming stoned again as he stepped ahead and briskly tapped on the cabin’s door. “Come in” the voice called from inside. We both skittered inside hesitantly, slowly walking in till we came in his field of vision.

“Jungkook, keep my coffee here and then take a seat” he patted on a place near his papers, his eyes fixed on the computer screen before him. I did as he told and we both occupied the comfy chairs before us, waiting with bated breaths on what was going to happen next. Will I be assigned to be an ahjumma’s bodyguard this time? Oh please no……

“I have something really important to share with you both” he said in a somber tone, finally lifting up his head to look at us. At once, we knew this wasn’t going to be something ordinary. I could feel it in my bones.

“By now, I am sure you both are well aware of the Gwacheon murder case and the related gossip around it….” He looked expectantly at us as we silently nodded in answer. “The headquarters called the Superintendent General last night” he said cautiously, “They are forming a special investigative team under SMPA for this case. Officers from all over the country are being recruited. Strangely enough from Busan, you both have been chosen….”

“What?” we both yelled in unison, making him grimace at our reaction.

“I am sorry…… but what?” Jimin asked again, still unable to believe the sudden announcement.

“Tell me about it” the boss sighed, “I don’t know based on what criteria this was done. Seriously, choosing a rookie policeman and an assistant inspector over other higher ranked officers doesn’t make sense to me…….” Clearly, he was somewhat bitter with the decision. He was so much senior than us and still he was stuck here while we were getting shifted to an exclusive unit in Seoul. I didn’t know whether to feel good or bad about it.  

“But whatever it is”, he dismissed our thoughts, as he sighed again, “For now, Officer Park Jimin and Officer Jeon Jungkook, you are being transferred to Seoul ASAP. Rest of the directions will be given to you when you report there, which is by day after tomorrow. Any questions?”

“Just one” I squeaked in, “Who is leading this team sir? I mean, as you rightly pointed out, choosing two lower ranked officers over the higher ones doesn’t make sense….”

The boss slightly smirked at me, “Well your profiles exactly ain’t that bad. They had asked for profiles of every officer a few days back. Had I known it was for this, I would have exercised more caution…...” He reached towards the paper on his side, “I mean look at these…….” he pointed at one of the papers, “Officer Park here has been working since almost 2 years now. He is already one rank high meaning he has been involved with some good cases, the recent one being the smuggling case we foiled three months back. While you” he pointed his index finger at me, “my friend. You were the best outgoing student from the NPA this year….. And the youngest one too. And from what I have heard, you are a fast learner. I am sure whoever chose this…. Ah……” Suddenly, he paused, brooding deeply about something, his eyes scanning the contents of the sheets in his hand.

I looked at Jimin who just shrugged his shoulders. “Uhm….” I tried to break the awkward tension, “Sir?”

“SI Kim Namjoon is your leader” he suddenly blurted out with an amused cryptic grin. He then looked up again, “Well then. All the best you two” and he stood up to shake our hands. I was barely able to contain myself as I somehow managed to keep steady at the prospect of finally getting into the real deal. “Go kick some asses there….. And try to pitch in some good words for our team. You are dismissed now.”

“Thank you sir” we both bowed down and scurried out towards the exit. When we finally stood out on the porch, an excited squeal escaped my mouth as I jumped to hug Jimin tightly. “Wow” Jimin muttered thoughtfully, as he hugged me back, still startled by my reaction, “You must be really wanting this……”

“Of course!” I pulled back, smiling from ear to ear, “Wanna catch some coffee before we start packing? My treat….” I blabbered as I ran towards the café again, this time on my own accord, with Jimin in tow.

I would be going to Seoul. That too with my favorite colleague. Things couldn’t have gone any better…… At least that’s what I thought…..

I, Jeon Jungkook, an ordinary policeman from Busan, was now going to join an exclusive unit in Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. And this is where it all started…….