Seolhyun headed out of her office the next morning, moments after she arrived, shrugged off her coat and placed her briefcase on her desk. She strode with purpose over to the forensics department, on the other side of the police station. It was really early too—her department wasn’t here yet, except for Joohyun of course, who shot her a questioning a look. “I’m seeing Seungwan,” Seolhyun mouthed, before continuing on.

“Seungwan?” Seolhyun greeted into the Forensics office, checking to see if her counterpart was in already.

“Seolhyun?” the young detective heard a call from inside, coloured with the familiar tinge of the Head of Forensics. Taking it as a cue to enter, Seolhyun strode into the white walled office. Unlike her office this one was much plainer, and only had basic furniture—probably because the sophisticated stuff were hidden in the lab over at the far corner of the office. “It’s you,” the voice continued, as Seungwan’s form began to become visible. “I trusted in my ability to recognise voices.”

“You look tired, Seungwan,” Seolhyun greeted, concernedly, noticing the eyebags on her eyes. “Up all night?”

“What do you think?” exhaled Seungwan frustratedly, leaning back in her swivel chair. “The sample. It’s gone. I’ve been berating myself about it all night.”

Seolhyun gave Seungwan a sympathetic smile, and patted her lightly on the back. “Don’t worry, Seungwan,” Seolhyun said reassuringly. “We’ll find the culprit either way.”

“Thanks, Seol,” Seungwan replied, a small grin forming on her face. “You’re a great person to work with. But why are you here so early in the morning?”

“To catch you before you leave,” Seolhyun responded, her authoritativeness returning. “This break-in presents us with a valuable opportunity,” Seolhyun continued, “because it lets us know that the killer or the killer’s accomplice had access inside here.

“You want to know who has access to the lab?” Seungwan asked, righting herself on her chair.

Seolhyun nodded in affirmation. “Aside from, of course, the people on your team and the people on my team,” Seolhyun confirmed.

“Well, not really much else,” Seungwan admitted, “except for maybe the janitor. I’m not so sure.”

“You’re saying it was a job done by one of our girls?” Seolhyun questioned, raising her eyebrow.

“No…no of course not,” Seungwan quickly replied, calming Seolhyun down. She knew how close Seolhyun was to her teammates—they were almost like blood sisters. “We have a lot of lab technicians in our team, specialising in different forensic techniques.”

“And who was the technician specialising in…” Seolhyun paused, trying to recall what procedure the sample would have undergone.

“Seo Youkyung,” Seungwan replied, sparing Seolhyun’s blushes. “It’s fine, really, if you can’t remember the procedure’s name. I myself also get confused sometimes.”

“Seo Youkyung…” Seolhyun said, the name dancing on her lips.

“Yes, her. Do you want me to set up a meeting between you two?” Seungwan enquired.

“That would be lovely,” Seolhyun replied, getting up to leave, and plan her next step. “Tell her to meet me at the café near the station, at 4pm today.”

“The one at the shopping mall?”

“That would be it.”

And with that, Seolhyun left. She was looking forward to the 4pm meeting, not because she trusted the lab tech to have anything useful, but because of who she was planning on meeting afterwards.

---

“Anyone of you have anything?” Seolhyun asked, settling into her seat at the head of the table. It was time for their daily case meeting, just after lunch, but everyone at the table wore despondent looks on their faces.

“No!” chorused the people around the table, snapping shut their (empty) notebooks at the exact same time.

“Nice coordination,” Seolhyun murmured, almost threateningly, upon hearing the news that they had, well, no news to offer. “You girls really have nothing?”

“The murderer must have covered her tracks well—” Yuna began, only to be cut off by Seolhyun.

“Don’t use ‘her’ so cavalierly, Seo Yuna,” Seolhyun reprimanded, slamming her hand on the table and shooting up. “The killer could still be a male. We have no idea yet!”

The others at the table cowered in fear. Seolhyun was truly mad this time, and they knew it was their fault for not discovering anything. But then again, how could they? The only time the killer was careless enough, his/her carelessness was immediately corrected. 

Seolhyun collapsed back into her seat, and turned towards Mina. “Kwon Mina,” Seolhyun said sternly, causing Mina to tremble in her seat. Did Seolhyun find out anything of their tryst on her office table? “Are Choa and Jimin released yet?”

“No, mam!” Mina responded, saluting jokingly. “But they will be soon, as we can only detain them a maximum of 48 hours without evidence and without charging them with a crime!”

“Good,” replied Seolhyun, a plan formulating into her head. “Get some interns to trail them, or bug their phones, or bug their clothes or something. We need to track their movements so the next murder is the last one.”

“Got it, boss,” Mina replied, noting it do