40 minutes after Jung Jiwoon’s abduction

Taekwoon paced s he bit his nails, trying to stay calm while some officers examined the tapes of some security cameras that might record the kidnapping moment. It took them a few minutes to find the recordings, but it seemed like hours by Taekwoon.

He watched the tapes carefully. He could see a hooded man was following his brother who was speaking on the phone. The hooded man starting to attack his brother in a few minutes later on the video, then injected something into his neck and dragged him roughly into a blue SUV.

He couldn’t bear to see those videos again. He started to rage, “I’m going to kill you, son of a . I will kill you.”

“Hyung, calm down. We will definitely find him.” Wonshik tried to calm him down. But Taekwoon didn’t react to his words, so he pulled him away from the desk, arms wrapped tightly around his waist.

“Let go of me. LET GO!” Taekwoon struggling to free himself from Wonshik’s hands, but Wonshik holds him even stronger, no matter if Taekwoon might hurt him.

“Did you find anything?” Wonshik asked, gasping.

“This seems to be Jung Jiwoon’s phone.” Sanghyuk replied, showing the evidence as he bagging it up, “What about the CCTVs footage?”

“We can’t identify the abductor from CCTVs footage. He must have planned it out thoroughly.” Wonshik let out a deep sigh. The case they are dealing with is still unfinished, and now comes a new case that involving family member of one of their co-workers.

***

“How’s Hakyeon hyung?” Asked Hongbin who had just returned to the room after previously asking permission to go out to pick up the phone call from Wonshik.

“As you can see. It’s like something is bothering him. He keeps cry in his dreams.” Jaehwan replied.

Hongbin went straight to a table next to the bed and laid his head, his hands casually opened the desk drawer when his eyes caught something.

“... Hyung.” He called Jaehwan jittery.

Jaehwan turned to face Hongbin, had no idea why Hongbin's tone sounded strange, “What is it?”

“What kind of medicine is this? Is Hakyeon hyung... sick?”

“Let me see.”

Hongbin handed over the drugs bottle to Jaehwan, his eyes noticed the change of expression on Jaehwan's face, and his expression did not look good. There seems to be something wrong. Seriously wrong.

“Paroxetine?! This is an antidepressant. But what makes him ....” Jaehwan couldn’t finish his sentence, but this fact was enough to answer his question about Hakyeon's current condition.

Hongbin scanned the objects on the table carefully, looking for another clue. It did not take long to find it, but this was not what he expected. This is so unexpected. Hongbin froze for a moment. His throat suddenly felt dry, “H-hyung, look at this.”

“Isn’t it—”

“What are you guys doing?” Hakyeon's voice startled them both, so Jaehwan dropped the dugs bottle he was holding. It rolled off and stopped right at Hakyeon's feet.

“Hakyeon hyung, are you awake? We are very worried.”

“What are you guys doing?” Hakyeon raised his voice. He snatched the frame out of Hongbin's hands and hid it behind him.

“Hyung, isn’t she—”

Hakyeon’s face turned red, “Get out of here right now. GET OUT!”

“Hyung—”

“I SAID GET OUT.”

Jaehwan and Hongbin left Hakyeon's room, followed by a loud banging of the door. They looked at each other, did not know what to say. They drifted in their minds.

And now Hongbin understands why Hakyeon always act strangely whenever a new victim is found, and why Hakyeon is so anxious to catch the serial killer.

They both did not know how much time had passed until Hakyeon opened the door. They glanced at each other, silently arguing who would speak first.

“Hyung, a-are you o-kay?” Jaehwan asked hesitantly.

“I’m okay.” Hakyeon replied, but actually he didn’t look okay in the younger’s eyes. There was a short pause, “Let's just pretend you didn't see anything. And don’t ask about it because I can’t explain it now.”

“But about the medicines—”

Hakyeon cut off before Jaehwan could finish his words, “Don’t let Chief Hwang know about this.”

“I promise.” Jaehwan replied, followed by a nod from Hongbin.

“What about the case? Any progress?”

Hongbin shook his head, “They are searching around the suspicious area now, but we didn’t hear anything yet. Our report also just started to be processed after Wonshik gave the tape of the kidnapping incident.”

“Has the culprit been identified?”

“Not yet. We can’t identify the kidnapper from CCTV footage. It’s looks like he's been planning this well, so his face is not caught on any camera. We've checked the license plate and it's a fake plate.” Hongbin explained, “But apparently it wasn’t him.” He murmured.

“But I’m sure it was him. That’s his voice.”

“But how can you know if it’s his voice? Are you really sure?”

“I can’t explain the reason but I’m pretty sure it’s his voice.”

“Hyung, please calm down. He’s not the person we’re after. So far all the victims are in their 20s, remember? But Jung Jiwoon is only 18 years old.”

“I heard that the car is also different, so I think Hongbin is right. It’s not him.”

“Please believe me. We have to save him before it’s too late.”

***

VIXX’s Shangri-La suddenly played – again – loudly, making Sanghyuk toppled from the couch. He fell asleep while waiting for a call from Wonshik. He looked at the table next to him and found Taekwoon asleep with his head on the desk. This was the first time he'd fallen asleep since his brother had disappeared that night. But whose phone that keeps ringing this late? There’s only him and Taekwoon in the room. But it’s definitely not the sounds of his phone or Taekwoon’s.

Now he heard another notification tone. He had to stop the annoying sounds before it make Taekwoon awake. So he decided to find the source of the sounds and stop them immediately.

He walked, checking table by table and stopped in front of the desk in the corner, eyes staring at the phone which was ringing again. He grabbed the phone, smiled at the somewhat childish phone charm, “Isn’t this too childish, our Team-jang-nim?”

He stared at the screen of the phone, there were 32 missed calls and quite a lot of messages. Hesitantly, he checked the messages.

“Whose birthday? So far Hakyeon hyung has never mention the person who is close to him. But seeing this message seemed like she was quite important person in his life.” Sanghyuk murmured.

Sanghyuk shrugged as he pressed the menu button and his jaw drop the whole time he look at the phone’s background, “Why is her picture here?”

“Whose picture?”

“Uh, n-nobody.” Sanghyuk taken aback with Taekwoon sudden presence, rushing to shove the phone into his pocket. He swallowed. He clearly knew her. He had seen the picture of her almost every day for the last few months. It’s Hong Yiseul.

***

45 hours after Jung Jiwoon’s abduction.

“Sir, what do you mean by hand the case over to Seo Eunkwang’s team?”

“You know the rules, Captain Cha. You know exactly that officers are not allowed to work  on a case that involving his own family.”

“But—”

“You have to hand the case over to Seo Eunkwang’s team, or I have to suspend Lieutenant Jung for a few days. Remember, your job is more important than this case.”

“But sir, it’s the same case. Jung Jiwoon was kidnapped by The Joker.”

“Do you have any proof? How many times do I have to tell you? The age range is clearly different. Why are you so stubborn?”

“I don’t have any proof yet, but can’t you give me a chance? Just this time? We have to save him before it's too late.”

“Absolutely not. And if you keep coming to find me like this, I’m not just going to suspend Lieutenant Jung. I’ll kick you out from that case instead.”

There was a loud banging of the door. Hakyeon tilted his head only to find Taekwoon rushing in and begging to Chief Hwang, “Sir, please! I need to find my brother! Sir—”

“You make me even more dizzy.” Chief Hwang rubbed his face, “ Get out of here right now!”

Half cried, Taekwoon knelt and rubbing his palms, “Please! I need to find my brother. He must be very scared out there. Please!”

“I SAID GET OUT! Do I need to call the officers to drag you out?”

“Sir, please!”

Hakyeon knelt, whispering to Taekwoon’s ear, “Taekwoon-ah, let’s get out. We’ll defintely find your brother. We’ll find the way.”

“Let go! Let go of me.” Taekwoon struggled against Hakyeon, but Hakyeon’s hands wrapped tightly around his waist. His head spinning. The strength left him, so he gave up and cried in Hakyeon’s embrace.

***

“Stop crying and eat this meal. You have to survive until the time comes.” The hooded man put a plate of food to the table with a grunt. He approached the teenager who was tied to a chair, then knelt to remove the tape that was covering teenager’s mouth. He looked down to spruce up the teenager’s uniform, but his hand stopped when he saw his name tag and smiled eerily, “Jung Jiwoon. Tsk. Son of a .”

Jiwoon looked up to stare the hooded man’s face and spit right on his face, “Don’t pretend to be nice to me. Just wait till my hyung comes and he’ll put you in jail.”

“Your hyung?” He wiped his face and smiled mockingly, “your hyung is so stupid. He should be grateful that I’ve helped him to remove you from his life. But he’s still looking for you everywhere. Should I give him a lesson too?”

Jiwoon mockingly spit in his face again, “Don’t you dare to touch my hyung, you psycho.”

“Aish, how dare you against me, you jerk.” He threw a water of glass he was holding onto the floor, and then kicked the chair which tied to Jiwoon’s body. He approached the struggling Jiwoon on the floor, pulled his hair and rammed his head to the floor. He did it several times until he could see fresh blood starting to flow from his forehead.

“You shouldn’t upset me. I’ve been trying to be nice to you though. I shouldn’t have to waste time and just kill you.” He looked at him in disgust.

He rose to his feet, leaving Jiwoon who was laying helplessly on the floor with his body still tightly bound to the chair. He stopped right in front of the doorway when he remembered the last two sentences that escaped from his mouth. That words still lingering in his mind clearly. It’s so clear, so he kept repeating those words, “You shouldn’t upset me. I’ve been trying to be nice to you though.”

He looked back and the memories came back to his mind, a boy sat in the corner as he sobbing, not dare to lift his eyes from his shoes.

“Stay here and reflect on your mistakes. Don’t come out until I get back.”

And he waited in fear, hugging his knees as he counting the hour after hour passed, which will always stop at the 120th count. Exactly 120 hours.

***

N-nyeong~~ I'm (kinda) back.

Did you even miss me this story? hehehe

I know, I (really) took a long time to update a new chapter.

I really want to update ASAP, but writing is harder than I thought.

Anyway, Part. 2 will be published in a few days, so ............ be patient please!

hehehehe

Till then,

.: 인형 :.