"Let's talk about your girlfriend for a bit," Dr. Cho's voice resounded from the recording.

"What do you want to know?" Taekwoon's voice, now even smaller than before asked.

"Tell me about her a bit."

Taekwoon hesitated a bit. "W-what's there to say?" he replied. "S-she-she's my light," he said after a moment.

"Your light?"

"I've been going through dark days," Taekwoon explained. "But surprisingly, it's not so dark with her around. Everything she did, her understanding of my situation even though she did not know what was happening to me. I felt more...in control...when she was around."

He took a deep breath. "I wanted to be a better man, for her. Because...she deserves better than me."

"And who does she deserve?" Dr. Cho questioned.

"Who else?" Taekwoon seemed dejected, almost as if he had admitted defeat. "Someone who doesn't suffer from...this. Someone who can make her happy. Someone she can enjoy with, smile and laugh with, without having to worry."

"And do you want to make her happy?"

"More than anything else in the whole world."

Pause. 

Rewind.

"Let's talk about your girlfriend-"

Sanghyuk watched as Yoohyeon rewound the tape for seemingly the hundredth time, not tearing her eyes away to even spare him a glance as the record whirred and hummed as the audio played. He sighed, breaking the silence.

"Are you gonna get up, or stay there till you freeze?" he asked.

"There's something up," she replied, almost as if she had never heard him. "I intend to find out what."

"What on earth are you talking about?" he asked.

She finally, finally raised her eyes to him, and the look on her face didn't seem like she was joking at all. "This isn't a coincidence," she said.

"What isn't?"

"The girlfriend," she clarified.

"You mean Taekwoon's girlfriend?" he asked, wrinkling his nose. "Kim...Bora, right? What does she have to do with anything?"

"I've heard her name twice now," Yoohyeon explained. "Once through Lee Yoobin, the other through Taekwoon himself. Now that is no coincidence at all, especially with the way they both talked about her."

"What do you mean?" Sanghyuk was getting tired of having to repeat himself. "You think she may have something to do with the case?"

Yoohyeon nodded. "The way she was being talked about, as if she was slowly diverting her attention to Jaehwan, as if she were considering being unfaithful...I have a feeling that's a key component of this case."

He pursed his lips. "Alright, let's say that is," he agreed. He then walked forward, leaning forward against the chair. "Then what component is it?"

She sighed heavily. "That's the part I'm trying to work out," she admitted. 

He watched her furrow her brow. "What're you thinking?" he asked.

"Where exactly she fits into this puzzle," she replied. "What her role was in this entire operation, because it certainly wasn't just standing aside."

"You think she assisted the perpetrator?" he inquired. "Or was actually already cheating on Taekwoon?" 

"The latter seems more likely," she agreed. "Especially considering how Taekwoon sounded on the recording."

"But how does that information fit in?" Sanghyuk echoed her thoughts.

"Bingo," she replied. She then leaned over and switched off the recorder, rubbing her temples as the jarring buzzing of the player stopped and she didn't need to concentrate that much to make out words in the midst of crackling audio. 

Sanghyuk frowned. "You should rest," he told her. "You're working too hard."

"If I rest, then I miss valuable time, and its more time that they spend trapped in that chamber," she shot back, not even opening her eyes.

"If you don't rest, then you won't be in the right frame of mind," he countered. "You'll miss important puzzle pieces that may just keep them stuck there for another decade."

As much as she hated to admit it, he had a point.

At the very moment, someone knocked on her door. "Yoohyeon? Are you there? It's me, Ken," a masculine voice sounded from the other side of the door.

"Speaking of relaxing," Sanghyuk murmured, turning to the door.

Ignoring him, she called out. "Come in! The door's open."

Ken walked in hesitantly, excusing himself before stepping inside. As he walked straight towards Sanghyuk, the latter stepped aside to allow him through. Not like it was going to be an issue, considering as he couldn't even see Sanghyuk and would probably just pass through him, but the latter did so in order to be nice.

Ken's eyes immediately fell to the stopped recorder. "Oh, what's that?" he cooed, running up and sitting down beside Yoohyeon like a little kid. "If I'm not mistaken, that's an old recorder, like the ones our parents used to have!"

"Well, you're right, it is an old recorder," Yoohyeon affirmed.

"What're you listening to?" Ken asked.

"Just some old recording," Yoohyeon quickly said, pushing the recorder away. "So, anyway, what brings you here?"

"A party," Ken said. Yoohyeon raised an eyebrow, so he quickly clarified. "Handong's birthday is coming up, so the girls and I are planning to throw her a small party, probably take her out to drink or something. Want to come?"

Yoohyeon opened , but hesitated. She put her head down, avoiding his eyes.

"Yoohyeon," Ken softly said. "You've been engrossed in this case of yours for a few months now," he gently reminded. "Not saying you shouldn't, and it's commendable, but we also want to remind you that we exist, and we care for you. We want to see you now and again."

When she didn't respond, he pushed his chair back and got up. "It'd be nice to have our friend back again," he told her. "If you want to come, you can always reach me. I'm online twenty four-seven."

Her vision blurred slightly and all she could hear was the soft sound of the door shutting as Ken left her by herself once again.

"You should do it."

How could she have forgotten Sanghyuk?

She turned to see him leaning on the table beside her. "You should go," he repeated.

"But what about-?"

"Don't worry about them," he cut her off. "Seriously," he said when she looked like she was about to protest, "they've waited for decades, they can wait another day."

"That's exactly my point," she said. "Isn't it wrong to keep them waiting?"

"Not in your state," he told her. "You should go, have fun with your friends, not worry about us ghosts for a little while."

He tapped her phone that was sitting on the table and pushed it towards her. "Go on, call him."

She hesitated for a moment before picking it up and dialing Ken's number.