- Re-posting this revised chapter due to AFF Error last week. Enjoy reading -

 

- Yoon Doojoon -

 

I arrived on Lee Family's house with Moon. She was picked me up from the hospital. It seemed that Aegi had told her to pick me up first before going to Lee Family's house for helping her and Hyunseung. She told me about her findings on the M.E office and also about her suspicion toward Gikwang's father. Of course, I wouldn't believe that it was Gikwang's father who hurt him. But Moon mentioned about the guarantee letter and prescription that Lee Kwang Soo made for Jang Hana's medicine. So, I had to admit that my suspicion toward Lee Kwang Soo had risen too.

 

I saw two paramedic officers brought Lee Kwang Soo's body down from the second floor as I entered the house. I looked at it for a while until they came out from the house then looked back in. I saw Aegi was sitting on the sofa with a crying woman. She was comforting the woman. I guessed the woman was Gikwang's mother since Aegi looked close to her. I guessed they had met before when Aegi still learned under her husband.

 

But then, Aegi caught my presence. She straightened her body and looked at the woman officer beside her. Probably she was asking the woman officer to look for Mrs. Lee for a while. She stood up afterward and walked toward me. But I noticed that her gaze went behind me. I looked around and saw Moon entering the house. The girl stopped beside me.

 

"Hyunseung's upstairs, looking for evidence. Please help him," Aegi told her.

 

"Okay," Moon said then walked toward the stairs and went up.

 

I looked back to Aegi. "How...?"

 

"Asphyxiation. He was hanging him self." Aegi explained before I could finish my question.

 

"No guest or force-entry?"

 

Aegi shook her head. "He was staying alone at his working room after he got back from work," Aegi said. "Mrs. Lee told me that he skipped dinner since he said that he already got dinner with his collagues. So, no one bothered him after he went in to the room."

 

"So his death is pure because of suicide?"

 

Aegi nodded then took something out from her back pocket. "Besides, I found this on his desk."

 

Aegi handed an evidence plastic with piece of paper in it. I took it and looked at it. It seemed that the paper was a suicide note that Lee Kwang Soo left before he hung him self. On it, Lee Kwang Soo confessed everything that he did to Gikwang without telling the reason why. He also apologized to Gikwang about what he had done to his son. He also left a message for Gikwang, telling him to take care of his mother and younger brother. I raised my gaze as I saw Aegi moving closer to me.

 

"Mrs. Lee hasn't seen this note," she said with softer voice as if she was whispering. "I didn't let her to see it. And I also haven't told her about Gikwang's condition."

 

I looked at Aegi for a while. She looked as if she was asking me to do the same and to understand why she did it. I knew Aegi was the type who would tell everything that needed to be known. But, I guessed, receiving the news that her son was struggled between life and death at the operation room after seeing her husband committed suicide was too much for Mrs. Lee. So, I agreed with Aegi that we weren’t supposed to tell her about Gikwang’s condition and also about the fact that her husband was the one who made her son laid on the operation room.

 

“Did you find anything else?” I asked Aegi as I folded the plastic and put it in my pocket.

 

“Not yet,” she replied. “Hyunseung was searching for a clue but there’s nothing useful. It seemed that he had destroyed everything that connected him to Kang Heejoon or Pink Arjuna. But we found his safe vault behind a hanging picture. That’s why I asked Moon to go to Hyunseung.”

 

I just nodded. I had heard about Moon’s infamous skill to open safety vaults or boxes. I heard that Moon was befriended with criminals or thievery experts. She did that just to learn their techniques. But I found that the skills that she learned were useful in the most of the time.

 

“But how’s Gikwang?” She asked.

 

“He’s still inside the operation room,” I said as I dropped my gaze.

 

I was worried about Gikwang. I left the hospital immediately when I got a call from Hyunseung about Lee Kwang Soo earlier. Junhyung was still there since he was still recovering. He promised me to inform me immediately if Gikwang already came out from the operation room. But there was still no news from Junhyung. So, I couldn’t help but to feel worried.

 

“He will be fine.”

 

I looked up at Aegi when I heard her words. I knew that Aegi was trying to encourage me and I appreciated her for it.

 

“He’s stronger than he looks. Just have a faith on him.”

 

I exhaled. “Yeah,” I said as I nodded.

 

Then…

 

“Aegi.”

 

 

- Shin Aegi -

 

The call made me looked up to the stairs. I saw Hyunseung stood on the curved part of the staircase. He looked like as if something had troubled him.

 

“You probably want to see this.” He gave the signal to come with him.

 

I looked back at Doojoon and exchanged gaze with him for a while. Both of us understood immediately if Hyunseung and Moon might have found something. I turned my body and went to the stairs. Doojoon was following me. We walked up and followed Hyunseung to the room.

 

When I entered the working room, I saw Moon had managed to open the vault. She was standing facing the open vault and holding a small shoes box on her hand. She was looking at the contents. I approached her. It seemed that she heard my footsteps coming so she turned to look at me.

 

“We found this,” Moon said as she handed a black leather notebook.

 

I took the book. It seemed that the book had many things tucked inside of it. I opened the book and the pages opened right on some photos. I took the photos and looked at them one by one. There were 5 photos in total and there were photos of old medical school student. Lee Kwang Soo was taken pictures with his friends back on the college. I saw one picture with the school name. I recognized the name since my second older brother had gone there too.

 

“It seemed that they were from Lee Kwang Soo’s college time,” Doojoon said. I knew that Doojoon was standing beside me and looking at the photos along with me.

 

I nodded. But then, on the last picture, I found one thing that attracted me the most. I was sure Doojoon would feel the same way like I did. It was a picture of Lee Kwang Soo with another guy on his age. They were smiling happily to the camera without knowing what the future would bring them. They looked close as Lee Kwang Soo rounded his arm across the guy’s shoulder. But the thing that attracted me the most was the guy with Lee Kwang Soo.

 

“Is that Lee Il Ryung?” Doojoon asked as he took the photo from my hand.

 

Doojoon was right. The guy was Lee Il Ryung. So, Lee Kwang Soo had known him since college. And I just found out that Lee Il Ryung had gone to the medical school too. It was new for me since I never knew Lee Il Ryung’s past before.

 

“It is Lee Il Ryung,” I said. “So, they were friends.”

 

“I think we should ask Mrs. Lee about it,” Doojoon said. “Probably she has met Lee Il Ryung once.”

 

I nodded. “Yeah, I think we should.”

 

“But whose book is that?” Doojoon asked.

 

I looked back to the book. I didn’t check about it earlier. I turned the pages to the front page and tried to find the owner’s name. But there was no name on it. I turned the page. There were some notes on the book. But I didn’t know who it belonged to.

 

But I saw Doojoon took out Lee Kwang Soo’s suicide note. He put the note beside the handwriting note on the book. I knew that he was matching the writing. But the handwriting on the book was different from Lee Kwang Soo’s handwriting style.

 

“It’s not Lee Kwang Soo’s,” Doojoon said.

 

I turned the page around again to find another clue. I noticed that there was a torn page. I noticed that there was a torn letter E on the inner side of the book. But I ignored it for now since I didn’t know what that was for. I turned another page and found some addresses there. There were some pages with dates and names and also notes. I also found random names that seemed familiar for me. I remembered that I had heard them somewhere before. I couldn’t remember where I had ever heard them. But it seemed that the owner of the book was keeping his important planning and stuffs on the book. But then, when I reached a little over mid part of the book, the pages became empty. I skipped the empty pages and I found Jang Hana’s photo tucked on the last page of the book. Something striked me when I saw the photo.

 

“Doojoon.” I looked at Doojoon.

 

He was looking at the vault for another clue with Hyunseung and Moon. But when I called him, he turned and came back to me.

 

“The owner of the book knew Jang Hana.”

 

“What?”

 

“I found this on the book.” I took Jang Hana’s photo and showed it to him.

 

Doojoon frowned and seemed to think for a while. “Do you think that this book might be belonged to Lee Il Ryung?”

 

I gasped when I heard Doojoon’s words. It was possible that the notebook was belonged to Lee Il Ryung. I could check it since I still had the evidences back from Lee Il Ryung’s case.

 

“I’ll match his handwriting.”

 

“But then, if Lee Kwang Soo was connected to Lee Il Ryung, why did he involve to the recent crimes but not when Lee Il Ryung was still an active criminal?”

 

Actually, I didn’t have the answer for the question. I also had the same question with Doojoon. So, I just shrugged to reply Doojoon’s question.

 

“That’s what I’m going to find out.”

 

 

- Yang Yoseob -

 

It was almost noon when I saw Aegi and Moon entered the base. Aegi seemed in hurry as she walked. She was bringing some evidence plastics on her hand. I noticed that those were a black-leathered notebook, photos and also a piece of paper. I quickly straightened my body from leaning position when she came in. Aegi stopped and turned to Moon.

 

“Kyuri is on her way here. Tell her to join me on the meeting room. Meanwhile, try to check the names that I gave you earlier with Dongwoon. Use my ID to access the file. If they all matched, report to me immediately,” she ordered.

 

Moon nodded and went to her station.

 

Aegi turned and looked at me. “Yoseob, come with me,” she said then walked toward the small meeting room.

 

I didn’t know why she wanted me to come with her. But I followed her to the room. When I entered the room, I saw Aegi put down the evidence plastics and opened the one with the photos in it.

 

“Wait.” I stopped her.

 

She stopped and looked at me.

 

“Aren’t we supposed to give them to the Interpol?” I stopped beside her.

 

“No,” she said. “We don’t need to.”

 

But her answer made me confused.

 

“I have the authorization for handling the evidences that related to Lee Il Ryung’s case.” She took out the photos and looked at them.

 

“Lee Il Ryung?” It was the first time for me to hear the name. “Who is Lee Il Ryung?”

 

It seemed that she had found the picture that she wanted. “The original Pink Arjuna,” she said then turned and put the photo on the white board with the magnetic holder.

 

I looked at her. “Original Pink Arjuna?” I asked again.

 

But Aegi didn’t answer me. She was writing something on the white board, connecting the cases that we had. She also wrote about Jang Hana’s pregnancy and also about Lee Kwang Soo’s connection with Lee Il Ryung. She also connected between Lee Kwang Soo, Jung Tae-il and Lee Il Ryung on the case. She connected Jang Hana and Jung Tae-il then made the question mark and drew arrows, pointing from Kang Heejoon, Lee Il Ryung, Lee Kwang Soo name to the question mark.

 

I looked at the photo that Aegi put on the white board. It was a picture of 2 young men. I recognized one of them as Lee Kwang Soo even though he looked much younger than he was now. I ever met him several times on the forensic room or with Gikwang. But, when I saw the other guy, my memory came back to a famous case three years ago. I remembered that I had read the news that the police managed to end a big illegal business. The boss’ name was Lee Il Ryung. But I didn’t recall that he was called Pink Arjuna.

 

“Isn’t it the case that police handled 3 years ago?”

 

“Yes,” Aegi said as she put a question mark beside Kang Heejoon’s name. She put down the marker and turned to me.

 

“I thought KSTF was not involved on the case,” I said.

 

“KSTF’s role was kept in secret by the top managements,” she replied. “But back then, the police and the Interpol handed the case to KSTF. We have the full authorization for handling the case.”

 

“So who is Lee Il Ryung?”

 

“He was the boss of the black business that we handled 3 years ago. He named the organization as Pink Arjuna and we called him as Pink Arjuna too.” She paused. “Similar with Kang Heejoon’s organization now, Pink Arjuna also handled illegal drugs, illegal arms, smuggling, human trafficking and murders. KSTF was investigating the case in disguise. I and Doojoon were part of the team.”

 

Aegi leaned back on the table.

 

“We managed to get closer to Lee Il Ryung and uncovered his illegal business. Finally, we almost managed to catch him. But he was died on the traffic accident during the chasing.”

 

I remembered reading the news about that traffic accident. But I was sure that I didn’t read anything about Aegi or Doojoon on the news. But since they were undercovered, I could understand why I had never seen their names on it.

 

“Lee Kwang Soo knew Lee Il Ryung back when he was still in college,” Aegi said. “But I still can’t figure out why he helped Jung Tae-il if he only knew Lee Il Ryung. And I also can’t figure out about Jang Hana’s role in this case.”

 

“Jang Hana?”

 

Aegi took another picture and showed it to me. It was Jang Hana’s picture when she was younger.

 

“I found this on the notebook,” Aegi said then took the black-leathered notebook and handed it to me. “This notebook was found on Lee Kwang Soo’s possession. I haven’t figured out who was the owner of the notebook but it wasn’t Lee Kwang Soo. His handwriting doesn’t match.”

 

Then I heard the knocks on the door. I looked up and saw Kyuri entering the room with a box on her hands. I quickly came to her to open the door.

 

“Thanks,” she thanked me when I held the door for her. Kyuri looked at Aegi. “I brought the evidences that you asked for.”

 

“Put it here,” Aegi said as she pointed to the table.

 

Kyuri put the box on the table. Aegi looked at the box and searched for something. She took out a piece of paper in an evidence box then looked at both of them.

 

“So, it was Lee Il Ryung’s,” she said with a smile on her face. She looked up at me. “The notebook was belonged to Lee Il Ryung.” She paused. “And he knew Jang Hana.”

 

 

- Shin Aegi -

 

I came out from the small meeting room because I felt so tired and dizzy. I and Yoseob worked to analyze the case. But we still couldn’t find any connection between Kang Heejoon, Jang Hana and also Lee Il Ryung. They were definitely connected. But we couldn’t figure out how they were connected.

 

When I almost reached the pantry, I saw Doojoon walked in to the base. He seemed not to notice my presence there. But I could see that he looked more tired than usual. I could know that he was concerning and thinking about something since I knew him very well.

 

“You’ve come back?” I said.

 

Doojoon stopped and looked at me. He seemed to realize that I was there. “Ah, yeah,” he said as he nodded. He looked around as he approached me. “You’re still here?”

 

“Yes,” I said. “I and Yoseob are analyzing the case.” I pointed at the small meeting room. “Probably it can take all night long.”

 

Doojoon looked at the meeting room for a while then looked back at me. “Can you stop for tonight then?”

 

“Why?”

 

“I’ve lost 2 of my field members for now. So, I would need Yoseob and Hyunseung to be standby all the time. I don’t want you to tire them out.”

 

I just smiled. “Alright then,” I said. “I’ll send Yoseob home.”

 

Doojoon gave me a weak smile. “Thanks.”

 

“You’re welcome,” I told him then went to the small Meeting Room. I told Yoseob that he could go home.

 

Yoseob looked confuse for a while. But when he saw Doojoon, he looked understand and nodded. “Alright,” he said then cleaned up the files that he read and went out.

 

I took one of the files and looked at it. Somehow, I felt that I needed to rest. I put the file back on the stack. I looked up and saw Doojoon stood at the door. “I think I will need to stop too.”

 

“Why?” Doojoon asked as he leaned on the door with his shoulder.

 

I exhaled. “I also need to clear out my head,” I told him then looked back to the board. “I’ve tried to analyze the cases but still can’t find out any links between Kang Heejoon and Lee Il Ryung.”

 

I could hear Doojoon scoffed so I looked back at him.

 

“So… this case can make Shin Aegi become confused?” He approached me with his arms crossed on his chest. He stopped beside me with his teasing smile.

 

Somehow, I felt that he wanted to mock me. So, I shot him my death glare. “Why? Is it weird to see me become confused?”

 

“No.” He smiled. “It gives me prove that you’re also a human.”

 

I looked at him with complain look. “Yah, so, you think that I’m not a human,” I complained and raised my hand to slap him.

 

“Anniya,” he said again as he took my hand and lowered it. “Everyone here think that you’re so great, fearless and limitless.” He paused. “Probably, it was because your team always managed to solve every case that was given to you.”

 

I scoffed because of it and didn’t reply to the words. “I’m not that great,” I said as I dropped my gaze to my hand that Doojoon held. “If I’m that great, I would have solved this case immediately.”

 

Doojoon just smiled. “Yeah.” He agreed.

 

I slipped my hand from Doojoon’s grip. “I want to go home,” I said as I walked toward the door. But I could hear his footsteps following me.

 

“Then, let me drive you home.”

 

I looked at him because of his words as I opened the door. “Why?” I asked as I walked out from the Small Meeting Room.

 

“Just to make sure that you come home safely,” Doojoon said as he followed me to my room. “Besides, your car is being used by Hyunseung, right?”

 

I just smiled slightly to hear his words. I didn’t reply to his offer and just took my bag on my room. But Doojoon was right. Hyunseung was using my car because he had to accompany Gikwang’s mother. The police was seized Lee Kwang Soo’s car for investigation. So, Hyunseung used my car to help Gikwang’s mother.

 

But somehow, I felt touched with Doojoon’s action. I always knew that Doojoon was a nice guy. Honestly, even though I always argued with him about everything, I couldn’t hate him for real. He was my ex-boyfriend afterall. But somehow, I couldn’t remember why I broke up with him. We even didn’t say the word ‘broke-up’. It just happened like that. And, on a certain time, I had realized that we had become apart. But sometimes, I admitted that I felt regretted to let him away.

 

“How’s Gikwang?” I asked when we were already at the car.

 

Doojoon released a sigh. “He’s still unconscious. The doctor said that he would be fine if he can pass the night.”

 

“But it’s good to know that he managed to survive the surgery.”

 

“Yeah…” Doojoon exhaled. “That’s good. But it’ll be better if he opens his eyes soon.”

 

I raised my hand and patted his shoulder. “He will be, Doojoon. He will be.” I lowered my hand. “Gikwang is a strong guy. He won’t let you down.”

 

Doojoon slightly smiled. “Yeah,” he said.

 

Not too long afterward, we arrived in the front of my apartment. Of course Doojoon knew my apartment. I had never moved my apartment since I entered the academy.

 

“Thanks for driving me home,” I said to Doojoon.

 

Doojoon just nodded. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow,” he said.

 

I looked at him. “You don’t need to.”

 

“But I insist.”

 

I just looked at him for a while, studying him and wondering why he insisted to pick me up tomorrow. But I was too tired to figure it out or to argue with him. So, I just exhaled and agreed.

 

“Alright,” I said then took off the seatbelt. “See you tomorrow then.”

 

“See you,” Doojoon said.

 

I opened the door and went out from the car. I waved at him then walked toward my apartment building without turning to see him again. I entered the building and went up to my own apartment.

 

I took out my key to open the door as I approached my apartment’s door. But when I looked up, I saw that my door was slightly opened. I frowned because of it. I was so sure that I had locked my door properly this morning when I left my apartment. So, it meant that someone had broken into my apartment.

 

With my police instinct, I put back my key to my bag and took out my weapon. I pushed my door open and tip-toed inside. I didn’t turn on the light since I didn’t want the person who broke into my apartment ran away. I walked carefully to the living room. I saw the furniture was on the mess. I walked carefully across the living room as I looked around for the things that had gone. But I saw my laptop was broken on the floor.

 

I scoffed. Whoever that did this to my apartment wanted to make it look like a burglary. But they even didn’t take my laptop. So, it was surely not a burglary. I raised my weapon and looked around again. I would need to make sure that the theft had gone. I went to my bedroom.

 

When I entered the bedroom, I saw that my drawers, cupboard and wardrobe were in the messy state. But they kept my bed intact. I looked back to my living room and found out that the part that messed up was the cupboards, shelves and my working desk. They left the TV and stereo set intact.

 

Somehow my mind thought that the person who broke into my apartment was trying to look for something and my instinct told me that it was related to the case. I ever brought home some case files before but I had never left them at home. I always brought them back to the office. I turned and went back to the living room as I felt needed to report it. I took out my phone and dialed the 119 number. I waited as I listened to the connection tone.

 

But when I waited, I saw a shadow rushed on the wall. I realized that the culprit was still inside my apartment. I quickly lowered my phone and turned as I raised my gun. But before I could do anything, I felt something hit my temple and I saw darkness on the next second as I fell to the floor. I felt very dizzy because of the hit. It was hard.

 

When I gathered my vision back, I saw that my gun was laid on the floor in the front of me. I wanted to take the gun. But then, I felt a hand with handkerchief covered my mouth and nose. When I inhaled, I quickly realized that there was a sleeping potion on the handkerchief. I tried to break free. But the culprit held the back of my neck so I kept inhaling the potion. On the moment like this, I regretted that I didn’t ask Doojoon to accompany me earlier.

 

Then, the potion started to work on me. But before I lost my conscious, I heard a girl’s deep voice.

 

“Sorry. But you must to sleep now, sleeping beauty.”

 

It was the last voice that I heard. The voice seemed like to be faked or like a voice that came out from the mouth that covered by cloth. But somehow, I felt that I ever heard the voice before somewhere.

 

And somehow, I wished that I was calling Doojoon instead of 119 earlier. At least, I knew that he would come to rescue me…

 

With that thought, I was drifted to a deep slumber.

 

From Author:

Asphyxiation: condition of being deprived of oxygen as by having breathing stopped; the act of suffocating by constricting the windpipe.

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