"What are we looking for in Song-Ji?”

Yael followed after Moonhee as they walked around the nearly empty school. The latter didn’t say anything as she headed straight towards a location she specifically wanted to go. Peering into the classroom, she noticed it being empty. She pushed the door open and felt her knees buckle. She held her stand and stumbled her way to the table way at the back.

“Hee?”

Moonhee sat down at the second table from the back row, near the back door and a small sad smile tugged at her lips. Yael reached her, putting her hand on her shoulder.

“He used to sit here,” she let out a breathy whisper, her fingers tracing the table’s edge lovingly. “He used to sleep at his table while lessons went on.”

Yael knew who she was talking about immediately and sat on the chair next to Moonhee. She put her arms on the table and rested her head against her arms.

The door to the room suddenly sprung open and a man about 40 years old came walking.

“Hey, you guys aren’t students of this school. You both can’t be here.” He came towards them. “I would need you to leave the compound.”

Moonhee shot up from her seat.

“Mr Lim?”

The older man looked surprised, “You know who I am?”

“I used to be a student in this school,” she informed him with a thin smile. “Moonhee?”

He thought for a second, Yael stood behind her friend, hand on the hem of her shirt. Mr Lim’s face lit up when he finally recognised her.

“How have you been?” He reached out to hug her. She returned it, awkwardly.

“What are you doing here?”

Yael wanted to speak up, but Moonhee stopped her.

“I just wanted to come back and reminisce my school days,” she started. “And to find out more about certain students.”

“Oh?” He then stepped aside. “How about we head to my office to talk about that?”

The two girls shared a look and nodded, stepping forward. While the older guy was trailing behind them, Yael tugged on Moonhee’s shirt.

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” She whispered.

Moonhee just nodded.

-

“Why are you guys looking at a student’s files? Is something wrong?” Mr Lim asked while Moonhee and Yael flipped through the students’ documents. “Do you know which student you’re looking for?”

“We’re working on a case,” Moonhee let out while Yael continued with her tablet, trying to find the traces from the online archives of the school - or what’s lack of it.

“On a case?” Mr Lim let out a small proud smile. “Are you an officer now? That’s a good career choice.”

“Yeah?” She smiled. “We are looking for Kim Sungmin.”

“He’s a troublemaker, I can tell you that.”

Yael glanced up, “Why would you say that?”

Mr Lim shrugged, “Well, there were complaints on drugs going on in this school. Everyone was implicitly pointing towards him and his posse, but mainly him. The school’s empty because they had put weed in the ventilation, the entire school was clouded with the poison and some got high. Some got really sick. We had to give them a break from school to clear the air, and for them to sober up.”

Moonhee paused, Yael continued her search through the papers.

“Any cases like this before?” Moonhee quickly masked her shaky voice with a firm question. “In the school’s history.”

Yael could sense Mr Lim’s discomfort at the question.

“There was once. Back in 2007,” he replied briefly. “Noh Taehyun and his friends.”

“And where are their files? We would like to go through them.” Moonhee stated. “We would like to see their lockers as well, both Taehyun’s and Sungmin’s.”

“Taehyun’s files were all handed over to the police when they came over. As for Sungmin’s, the police has yet to recover them.”

Moonhee and Yael nodded before Mr Lim let out a tired breath, standing up from his chair.

“Sure,” he motioned out the door. “Let's go. Shall we?”

The two girls followed after him towards the lockers.

“They share the same lockers, coincidentally.”

They stopped before a batch of worn lockers and Mr Lim pointed to the locker near the centre of the entire batch.

“I'll go get you guys some drinks.”

Mr Lim left the girls alone and headed towards the offices. Yael immediately pulled Moonhee to get her attention.

“Why are you indulging information with this guy? We barely know who he is!” She whispered harshly. “This is so unlike you.”

“I know what I'm doing. There's something going on in this school, and the dean knows something we don't.”

“He's been too helpful, that's why I'm worried.”

Moonhee saw Mr Lim coming down the hallway with two cups of drinks. She nudged Yael and they stopped discussing at once.

“Here, have some water.”

He handed them the cups. Moonhee took a sip while Yael just positioned the cup at her lips, to give the impression that she was drinking.

“Why are you checking out Taehyun’s case out? Sungmin really commit the drug crime?”

Moonhee smiled, “I'm surprised that the case was blown over so easily.  So I requested to have the precinct allow us to investigate in the school.”

“Sungmin didn't commit the crime, I'm sure of it.”

Mr Lim nodded, tucking his hands into his pockets. “Sungmin’s a nice child, I can't believe he would do something like this.”

Yael examined the locker and saw traces of white powder in the gaps between the wall and the flooring interior of the small locker. Mr Lim watched her for a second before clearing his throat.

“Taehyun was a nice kid too, too bad the drugs were found in his locker.” He blurted with a shrug of his shoulders.

Moonhee spun around, “How did you know the drugs were in Taehyun’s locker?”

“I was there when the police came. Your brother was a good kid. It's a pity this happened to him.”

Her head started spinning, Yael’s guards came up. She shook her head for a second to get rid of the dizzy spell.

“I… never told you I was Taehyun’s sister.”

Mr Lim was silent after Moonhee’s statement. He got fidgety, he shot his arms forward, grabbing Moonhee. Yael sprung into action, she tried to pry his hands away but he held Moonhee in a headlock and pressed a knife at her neck.

Yael quickly held her hands up.

“I slipped up, didn't I?” He chuckled. “When I mentioned Taehyun?”

“Y-Yeah you did,” Moonhee choked out, her head spinning. “You were the one who planted the drugs in his locker, weren't you?”

“Wow, you're smart,” he stepped backwards, still holding onto Moonhee.

Yael kept stepping toward, reaching for her cellphone in her pocket discreetly. She needed to call the guys, thankfully she had Jinyoung's number on speed dial.