DAY 4

An empty coffee cup sat next to your laptop, where you had spent the morning painstakingly sorting emails into their respective folders. You didn’t have much time to talk to Chen this morning, your emails could have waited. But you’d chosen to sit down and go through them all like usual, convincing yourself that to bream from routine was showing that he had gotten to you. But if you admitted it, it was those dark eyes that were so captivating and so dangerous at the same time, that promised a soft blanket and gentle words while he inflicted his pain. It was the way he was so at ease, not affected by his arrest, his isolation, by you.

You knew you were new, you knew you were inexperienced, but you’d thought you would have had a more impactful influence on him. He was treating being here like a joke.

You didn’t let yourself look at him in the glass before you entered his room, you didn’t want to allow any time for you to second guess yourself.

Fear is a reaction, courage is a decision.

“Please join me at your table.” You said, once sat at the desk. Again, he was in his position on the bed, arms tucked underneath his head, foot bopping to an inaudible song.

He groaned, “why?”

“Polite conversation dictates it.” You said, echoing the words you’d said yesterday. Though he’d shaken you, your resolve to your morals was sturdy as ever.

Finally, he moved to sit at the table with you, slouching more than yesterday. Yesterday, he’d been trying to intimidate you by showing how little he thought of you. Today he just seemed not to care at all.

“The other seven people we have in custody, do you not have anything you want to say to them? Suho, Chanyeol, Xiumin, maybe?”

He grinned, resting his chin on his palm as he looked up at you, “Nah. I’d rather talk to you allllll day long.”

“I expected more comradery.” You said, “and here I was thinking you were all real close.”  

“You can shove sticks up their asses for all I care. Careful though,” he winked, “some of them might like it. Anyway, what I want to know about is that ring.” He nodded at your fingers, interlaced on the table, “you wore it yesterday as well. It mean something to you.”

The ring he was referring to was the only one you wore to work, for the simple reason that it was too small for the finger it was on and you couldn’t get it off, you hadn’t wanted to risk losing it. It was a family ring, handed down to the firstborn son for generations until you’d been born a girl with no siblings, and the ring had made its way to you. Though it’d been resized to fit a woman, it was still obviously a man’s ring, not a dainty thing that a woman would usually wear.

“Present from a beau, perhaps?” He asked, “token of his love?”

“Perhaps.” You said, “what about you Chen, you have a beau waiting for you?”

“Why? Want to buy me a drink?” He winked, “for you I might be free.”

You rolled your eyes, glancing at your watch and standing.

“Where are you going?” He asked, looking outrageously insulted, “we just started.”

You laughed over your shoulder, “to talk to people more important than you.” You shut the door firmly behind you, taking the recorder and walking quickly down to the fourth floor, to meeting room 410C.

While the majority of the room was full, there were still two empty seats and you quickly chose the one beside Yoona in favour of the one beside Sora. As soon as Jisoo filled the last seat, Mr. Im cleared his throat.

“I want progress updates, I assume everyone has begun interrogation?”

The room nodded.

“Who wants to start?”

People began shuffling uncomfortably, glancing at one another before down at their folders, as if somehow they would be invisible to their supervisor.  

“Does- does no one have any updates? No one has found out anything?”

A woman piped up, “Kyungsoo hasn’t said a word, he sits silent like a statue! He doesn’t even move!”

Jisoo followed her example, “Chanyeol keeps talking about puppies, won’t say anything useful, just keeps going on about what kind of dog he thinks I should get, I didn’t even know that many breeds existed.”

Mr. Im frowned, “are all of you finding them this difficult?”

The room nodded.

He rubbed his temples, “I’ll tell the boys downstairs to increase severity a couple levels, should get the weaker ones talking. How about Suho, he’s the supposed leader of them all?”

A woman shook her head, “Golf, just golf.”

Mr Im frowned, “we expected they’d be hard to break, but we only need to get through to one of them. Send them to discipline every night if you have to, I don’t care if we get those statements from a hospital bed or a death bed, I just want them done. Understood?”

The room nodded again, and you nodded along with them but your whole body felt cold. He was willing to punish these boys to death to get his answers, what kind of man were you working for? You were supposed to be working for the good guys, the ends justify the means was something only villains ever said.

People began to file out of the room and you were eager to follow, but you heard your name being called once again.

“Miss Kang, remain behind please.” You winced, and slowly sat down in your seat. Yoona pat your shoulder as she went by, Sora shot you a scathing glance. Of course, she would think this was a part of your ‘ing the boss’ scheme. Idiot. You didn’t want to be here anymore than she wanted you here.

“Yes, sir?” You asked, once everyone was out of the room and the door had been shut firmly behind them.

He leaned back in his chair, “I just wanted to check in and see how you’d found your first few days, I know you began interviewing ahead of schedule.”

“I feel quite confident,” you said, ignoring the image of Chen’s eyes boring into your skull, “but like you said, they’re prepared for us and it’ll take a few sessions to even break them in.”

“Break them in.” He repeated, mustache twitching, “Yes, exactly. Have you spoken to Yoona?”

Oh no, you knew where this conversation was going. “Yes sir.”

“And she encouraged you not to be afraid of discipline? I realise you’ve never used the system before, are you aware of how to use it?”

“I’m not fully sure,” you admitted, “but if the situation arises I can ask Yoona for guidance.” Not that you had any intention of sending Chen for discipline.

“If? No, not if, when. I want you to be able to send him down whenever you need to. It’s on our case server, your new clearance access code is your password, and you just fill out an application. Very easy, two minutes maximum and the boys downstairs get the request. Very efficient.”

You swallowed, your throat tightening as he spoke. “Yes sir. Thank you.”

He nodded, “do you have any other questions…?”

You stood quickly, thankful that it was over, “no sir.”

You had your phone out before the door even closed behind you.

Girls night?

Yun-Hee: Yesssss! I’ll drop home and get wine right now!

Hei-Ran: Yun-Hee and I have a meeting that’ll keep up here a bit late. Be at yours after?

Yun-Hee: Right. Totally forgot

Yun-Hee: I’ll still bring wine though, have an emergency bottle in my desk <3

Yun-Hee: Or two <3 <3

Hei-Ran: Or three. I’ve seen your desk

Yun-Hee: <3 <3 <3

You smiled, you knew you could count on them.

Sounds perfect.

As you finally stepped on the crowded bus, you let out an exhausted breath at what a day it has been.

Chen had been difficult as usual.

Yoona obviously thought you were incompetent.

Sora was probably spreading nasty rumours about you.

Mr. Im wanted you to basically condone torture to get information.

And now, now, as if your day wasn’t enough you had to wait an extra two hours before Hei0Ran and Yun-Hee finished their dumb meeting and would come to you bearing bottles of wine for your sorrows. Could this day get any worse?

You’d thought it had possibly been getting better when that cute little baby had smiled at you on the bus. The very full bus, which had you standing squished like a sardine against the rail. Until, of course, the mother had decided to burp the baby on her shoulder and it vomited all over you.

Vomited.

All over you.

Then, of course, you had all the room you could ask for, people clambering over one another to get away from you, the little baby giggling like the it was.

You’d had to get off the bus like that, standing in the elevator of your building with an old woman who stared at you with her wrinkled old nose scrunched up like it was your fault, like you’d asked to be puked on. A shower didn’t calm you down, the hot water only boiled your fury.

Why was everything so ty today? Why did her department have to have such medieval methods? Why did Chen have to be so difficult, couldn’t he say anything remotely useful? Like Suho, he talked about golf, sure it sounded mind-numbingly boring, but maybe it showed he came from a rich background? Why couldn’t Chen drop hints like that, even small things that you could know in your heart were bull but that would let you feel better about yourself for investigating?

A pot of pasta on the stove (which you knew you would regret eating, you always made too much), you plugged your recorder into your sound system and pressed play.

Silence.

No, no no no.

You had to have pressed record. You know you did. Was your recorder faulty? There was no way-

“Would you please join me at your table?”

You voice floated around your apartment and you pressed a hand to your heart. Thank God. You listened closely to the sound in the background… trying to identify it, before realising it was your pasta and rushing back to the pot to stop it from boiling over.

His voice followed.

“Well aren’t I lucky?”

You listened to every word you’d shared with Chen, to his every response, to the shape of his words, and you imagined the way his eyes would have flashed or reacted. They were quite expressive eyes, not the guarded eyes of a criminal, they were the excited eyes of someone playing a game.

You let the recorder play over and over as you finished cooking your pasta, ate your pasta, washed the dishes, and even still as you lay on your couch, belly full and uncomfortable. There wasn’t much on there, you’d only had two sessions with him, so you practically had everything memorised now, but you kept it playing, hoping for some kind of hint to jump out at you.

“Present from a beau perhaps? Token of his love?”

“We’re here!!” Yun-Hee burst your door open, a bottle of wine in each hand, grin bright on her face.

You heard your voice on the recorder as you scrambled off the couch, bashing your head on the coffee table. “How did you get in the building!?” Hei-Ran shut the door behind them, carrying the last bottle. She opened to respond when Chens voice echoed over the room.

“Why? Want to by me a drink? For you I might be free.”

You rushed to turn it off, being confidential information and all, and turned back to the two friends now stood in your living room.

Yun-Hee raised an eyebrow. “Who was that?”

“Nobody.” You answered quickly.

They shared a doubtful glance. “Didn’t sound like nobody.”

“Sounded like on a stick if you ask me.”

“It was nobody!” You said, “Now stop asking questions and open those bottles. I’ve had a long day and a baby threw up on me and I ate too much pasta.”

“The hangover the other day was awful!”

                “Yeah, oh my gosh Eunji, I have no idea how you got up so early.”

                You laughed, mood much better now that you were a couple glasses in. “Well I wouldn’t have survived without my Yun-Hee drunkenly making my lunch.”

                She fluttered her eyelashes, “I am an angel, aren’t I?”

Hei-Ran hit her with a pillow, and you all squealed in laugher and in attempt to save the wine from spilling on your couch.

                “Seriously though, I missed being able to come see you at your desk and complain! You’re always locked away in your office!”

                “Or up on your ‘confidential’ floor, what floor are you on anyway?”

                You grinned, “Nothing special, just level 6.”

                “Level 6! They bumped you up three floors! No way!” Hei-Ran glowered at you playfully, but Yun-Hee frowned and held up her hands.

“So tell up properly about this Sora .”

                You launched immediately into the story, thankful to finally have your girls with you to complain about her, “She’s completely awful! First she’s all upset because she wanted the ‘better looking’ convict to interrogate! I mean, seriously? Xiumin is pretty dam fine himself, but what’s she planning to do, blow him for the information? And then she has the audacity to come to my office and say that I have no place on the case team and that I only got the spot because I’m sleeping with Mr. Im!”

                They both gasped, “No!”

                “Yeah!!”

                Yun-Hee had her hand on her heart, “I know I was joking about his size but you know I didn’t mean anything by that right?”

                “Of course! But now I think she’s spreading rumours about me around the office to discredit me!”

                “Really?”

                “Well, I don’t know, but it seems like the vile sort of thing she’d do! Eugh I hate her!”

                The nodded in agreement, hating her with you.

                “You know what would help?” Yun-Hee said, giving a dramatic pause, “getting you laid!”

                You rolled your eyes, “you have a one-track mind Yun.”

                “Come on! You didn’t get any the other night, seriously, when was the last time you got down to the booty music? Help a girl out!”

                “Help a girl out? I’m the one not seeing anybody.”

                “But I miss all the juicy details! Seriously, how long has it been, two months?”

                “Two and a half.” You admitted, holding your glass out to Hei-Ran to refill.

                “See! You need to let off some steam! I know this one guy, he’s Dutch, so he’s all tall and blond with big broad shoulders, mmm he’s a dreamboat.”

                “Then you sleep with him.”

                “She already did.” Hei-Ran said, grinning, “Last week.”

                “Ew! Yun-Hee! I don’t want your sloppy seconds!”

                “Hey! I’m just trying to share the wealth.”

                “Well I don’t want any ‘wealth’ that you’ve already spent.” You said, before breaking down, “so how was he?”

                “Amazing.” She gushed, “Not like those American ones who were in such a rush, he really took his time, and I swear he kisses like a God.”

                “Pretty vocal, too.” Hei-Ran chipped in, “not afraid of telling her how much he likes whatever it is she was doing to him.”

                You gasped and turned back to her, but she fluttered her hands for quiet again, “seriously Eunji, are you ok?”

                “Yun-Hee,” you said, “I’m fine.”

                “So he’s stopped bothering you?”

                You scoffed, “no, but its not like I’m answering, and I’ve blocked his number so I don’t know if he’s still messaging me.”

                Good, Hei-Ran said, “He turned out to be a real .”

                You smiled, “he can shove sticks up his for all I care.”

                The girls laughed, and you forgot all about it, besides, it was true.

                “You’ll remember to call us if he bothers you again, right?”

                “Yes mother.”

                “Eunji!”