Cerberus had a meeting with Anderson and JYP this morning. Afterwards, I convinced Mark to let me help with the investigation, and Alex sided with me in the debate. He just sent over the photos, and phone number that sent them, knowing I have enough computer know-how to try and find something, anything, that would give us a clue as to who this person is. I load the images onto my laptop, opening a new folder titled "Cerberus Case". While I wait for the photos to transfer over, I start looking up a few articles on the Beijing incident. The first article I came across makes Mark sound like some kind of superhero, which makes me wonder if he's ever read it. He's always hated that kind of stuff; the attention, the praise, even the slightest acknowledgements. Alex, on the other hand, is kind of the opposite, not to the point where he absolutely loves all the attention he gets, but he does enjoy it. He strongly believes in giving credit where it's due, and also receiving credit where it's due.

As I scroll through the article, I get to the bottom which has a series of photos and videos from that day. The inferno was massive, engulfing almost the entirety of the stadium. The officials reckoned it was arson back then, but they never found any suspects. This could be the first real lead in years, but Anderson says to keep it out of the press. I don't feel right holding information from the police, but he assured me that if we don't get anywhere we'll hand over what we have. I still think he should notify the Chinese authorities so they can conduct their own investigation. I come across some pictures of the crowd outside the stadium; some are of the SM idols and crew, some are of the group of bystanders that gathered as the scene went on. I enlarge the image of the bystanders, skimming over it to see if there's anything out of the ordinary. Not noticing anything, I save the picture into the case folder, and flick through the rest. Eventually, I get to a slightly grainy and out of focus photo of Mark carrying BoA, while his back's on fire. I could never understand him. In the 4 years I've worked at this company, I've heard stories of Mark putting his life on the line time after time, and warnings not to say the wrong thing around him.

Of course I was very intimidated in the beginning. Encountering him for the first time, after hearing everything everyone had told me, I didn't how to react. I still remember it like it was yesterday. It was the end of my second week, Friday lunch time, and I was headed to the communal area on our floor. I was working under O'Connell, Director of Operations of the UK branch at the time. Upon entering the communal area, Mark was sat at the table in the center of the room, elbows on the table, staring dead ahead at the door, munching on a huge sandwich. It stoppe