Channel 7- Evidence

"Why are YOU here?" said Kyuhyun.

"What do you mean?" said Key, the well-known diva of Shinee. "I should be asking you that same question. Why am I here? You seem to know."

He looked Kyuhyun up and down.

"And WHY are you dressed like that?" he said, looking disgusted. "Though, I must admit, it's a bit of a relief to see some color again."

"Apparently people got scattered across all these different universes, and it's up to us to jump around and find them!" said Kangin. "But we sort of telepathically figured that it would just be people who were in Korea right now, and Shinee was supposed to be working in Japan right now…"

"I apologize." Said Key. "But I have been here for three and a half days, and I must say that I am actually glad to see the four of you."

"What is this place anyway?" Jaejoong asked.

Key reached into his pocket and pulled out a leather wallet. He opened it up and showed them his badge.

"I'm a detective." Key answered. "And this is the gloomy run-down city that I am residing in, where crime rules the street and even the most honest of men get mixed up in the most dishonest of trades."

They all stared at him.

"It's the lingo." Said Key. "You try living here for three days and not picking it up."

"Well, thankfully this shows a 21 now." Kyuhyun looked at the remote control. "But no mission yet."

"Is that the little thing that caused all this trouble?" Key sighed.

"Yes." Kyuhyun answered. "And we have to wait for it to tell us what we have to do. And once it tells us, we are taken to another Universe. At least, that's how it's been working so far."

"So…" Key meandered to the others, pointed back at Kyuhyun and then at Kangin. "Pirates."

"Yeah." Said Kangin. "Got a problem?"

"None." Key shrugged, and then he looked at Siwon and Jaejoong. "Knights?"

"Right." Siwon nodded.

"Both of you?" Key said.

"Obviously." Said Jaejoong, putting his hands on his hips.

"Is there anyone else here that you know?" Kyuhyun asked.

"Hmm?" Key said. "Well, now that you mention it, yes. Kibum."

He received blank stares.

“The one from Super Junior,” Key, whose actual name was also Kibum, clarified.

"Kibum's here?" said Jaejoong. "Why didn't you say anything before?"

"How was I to know that that was important to know?" Key waved his hand around.

"Are you really smoking that?" Kangin asked, pointing at the cigarette.

"No." Key answered. "I just carry it around to look cool."

"Seriously or are you being sarcastic?" Kangin clarified.

"Seriously." Key glared. "YOU try living here for three days and not picking it up."

"You can't use that as your excuse for every strange thing you do." Jaejoong warned.

"Watch me." Key said.

"So why don't you take us to Kibum now?" said Kyuhyun. "I have a theory that the mission does not appear until all the people from the Universe that do not belong are together."

"I can't take you to Kibum." Key said.

"Why not?" Kangin demanded.

"He's in the middle of an investigation." Key answered. "Did you not hear me? We are detectives."

"You never said that Kibum was a detective." Jaejoong pointed out.

"He's right." Said Kangin. "You never did."

"Putting that aside," Kyuhyun said. "Why does it even matter that he's in the middle of an investigation? We have to hurry and collect up the rest of the people that are stranded."

"We can't just compromise our investigation." Key said.

"You'll have to." Said Kyuhyun. "It's just an alternate universe so it won't directly affect anything you do when you leave."

"Yeah, I mean, Siwon was supposed to get married but we ditched his future wife so we could come and save you guys." Said Jaejoong.

"I was NOT going to marry her!" said Siwon adamantly.

"Nevertheless," said Key. "Whether it doesn't matter to you all or not, Kibum and I have apparently been working on this case for years, because apparently Kibum's past lover's husband was murdered, and apparently he still is deeply in love with her, so apparently this case has been running his life."

They all stared at him.

"That's what we gathered when we met her." Key said.

"Her?" said Kangin.

"Her…" Key said, looking up at the half covered full moon. "She was the kind of dame you could smell coming down the halls, even though the cruel rain of this desolate town should have washed out the scent along with the rest of the sorry residents of this godforsaken hellhole that's just our little part of—"

He stopped suddenly when he realized he was being stared at skeptically.

"What?" said Key.

"You're doing it again." Said Jaejoong. "That lingo thing."

"Well you try staying here for three days and not picking it up." Key said, looking offended.

"Now this woman who is supposedly Kibum's past lover…" Kyuhyun said. "Does he ACTUALLY have any feelings for her?"

"Not that I know of." Key said. "But apparently something happened in the past."

"We got that." Said Kangin.

"So why would he care if we just did whatever we had to do to complete the mission and just dropped the case?" Kyuhyun questioned.

"I suppose he might not care, then again, he might." Key answered vaguely.

Just then, another figure emerged from the shadows, having almost an identical entrance that Key had earlier. Instead, this time, instead of the figure stepping out and being KEY, he revealed himself as KIBUM!

"Hmm…so the lot of you is here as well." He commented.

"Kibum, so good of you to join us." Said Key.

"I've been here the whole time." Said Kibum. "In the shadows."

"So you already know what is going on, then." Kyuhyun inferred.

"Yes." Kibum said.

Kyuhyun looked at the remote as the 21 turned into a 20. Then the screen changed and some letters appeared. And what do letters do? They make words. And them words? They make sentences.

"Solve the case." Kyuhyun read morbidly.

"What?" said everyone.

"That's the mission." Kyuhyun said. "It's what we have to do."

"How quaint." Said Kibum.

"Then let's get started already!" said Kangin.

"What do you guys know about the case already?" Siwon asked.

Kibum took a deep breath. "The case…" he began, putting the cigarette in his mouth but not smoking it. It only just sat there. "She came to me that night all those years ago, and the rain was heavier than the weight of my heart seeing her like the scared and confused star in the sky that shows—"

"At this rate, we'll be here for days!" Jaejoong said, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Why don't you just SHOW us the clues you have?" Kyuhyun suggested.

"All right." Said Key. "We'll have to head back to our detective office, though."

"Fine." Said Kyuhyun. "Lead the way."

They all started walking, and as they did, dramatic music was playing. It was mostly just a loud piano that had a pianist that put all his heart and soul into making the emotion real, but it certainly got the effect right.

"Here it is." Key said, gesturing towards the most modest looking place in town. Siwon tied his horse up outside the door and they all went inside.

"It's so small…" Jaejoong said as they started looking around.

"Have you guys been sleeping here?" said Kangin, pointing at the two cots that were in opposite corners.

"Well, we both appeared here." Said Kibum. "And it's too much of a hassle to go out and find where we actually lived."

"Maybe if we had to stay here any longer we would have been motivated enough to look." Key said.

"Um… all right…" said Kangin, raising an eyebrow.

"Is this all you have on the case?" Kyuhyun said, looking at a table with items scattered across it.

"Yeah." Said Key, walking over and pointing around the area. "This is everything we could find about the case. Evidence, suspects, clues, leads. You name it."

Kyuhyun looked over a few of the notes.

"And you haven't already figured it out?" Kyuhyun questioned.

"Well we've only had three days." Key said. "And keep in mind that the first day was spent pretty much assuming that we were dreaming."

"And then we spent the second day abusing our authority." Said Kibum. "You know, with the badges and all."

"Oh right." Key nodded. "And didn't we do that again on the third day?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Kibum said. "And then we got all this stuff out and took a look at it about two hours ago."

"You guys have to stop talking." Kangin advised. "It's really not that flattering."

"So?" Key ignored Kangin and looked at Kyuhyun. "Have you figured anything out yet?"

"Not yet." Kyuhyun said. "I have a pretty good idea of who I believe is at fault, but I want to be sure so I have to go through the rest of the evidence and the notes so we don't end up chasing after the wrong person and prolonging our stay here."

"Well, take your time then." Said Kibum, kicking off his shoes and lying down on one of the cots. "But I'm going to sleep."

"I thought this was a case that's ruling your life." Siwon said.

"My alternate universe self's life." Kibum corrected.

"Well where are WE supposed to sleep?" said Kangin. "I'm tired too!"

"You spent practically the whole time sleeping while we were in Knight Universe!" said Jaejoong as if that offended him.

"Yeah, but that was a long time ago!" Kangin said. "Besides, it's the middle of the night and I don't feel like waiting for Kyuhyun to figure stuff out!"

"Whatever you do, just stop whining about it." Key said.

Kangin found some extra blankets in the closet and lied them down on the floor. Within a few minutes, he was sleeping. Everyone else decided to stay up and wait with Kyuhyun as he tried to evaluate the culprits but they soon became very bored with him just sitting there reading so they decided to hit the hay as well. Key told everyone to stay away from his cot while Siwon and Jaejoong whined for a little while. So they finally took some of the blankets from Kangin because they were considered more attractive by chicks AND they were knights and went to sleep.

Kyuhyun stared down the notes as Key just sat there on the edge of his cot.

"How many people did you say are left to retrieve?" Key asked.

"Twenty now." Kyuhyun answered.

"Twenty people total?" Key said.

"Twenty people in addition to the six of us." Kyuhyun clarified.

"Well, at this rate, I suppose there are two people in each Universe, if the pattern continues." Key concluded. "So that means there are about twelve or thirteen more Universes we have to visit."

"I wouldn't be so sure of the fact that there are two in each Universe." Kyuhyun said. "It's likely that it's very random, and if you'll notice we're at an odd number since the beginning. And now I'm worried about what kind of people we will find, because I didn't expect you to be here. As we said earlier, we had assumed it would be limited to people who were around the area when I began my experiment."

Key sat there looking contemplative.

"Have you figured it out yet?" Key asked.

"Of course I haven't." Kyuhyun said, turning around and glaring at Key. "You have been talking to me the whole time so I haven't been able to read."

"Well stop talking to me and read then." Key instructed.

"That's what I've been TRYING to do." Kyuhyun defended himself.

"Whatever." Said Key as he lied down on his cot and pulled the blankets up over him.

Kyuhyun shook his head and continued reading his notes.