Haeun took off her helmet and glanced at the side mirror, patting down her hair as she placed down the helmet. Her eyes looked up to the tall building she was in charge of visiting for the day. She was going solo for today; the other members already had a lot on their plate as it is. She dusted off her shirt and cleared , the look in her eyes were enough to make the staring strangers hurry away. With one last exhale, Haeun marched into the building.

“Detective Yoon,” Haeun showed off her badge at the receptionist up front, “I have a scheduled meeting with the CEO.” The receptionist swallowed down his saliva, suddenly feeling very intimated over the woman in front of him. He picked up the phone and dialled the CEO’s room; he tried his best not to tremble. The call was quick and short, not many words were exchanged. In a moment, he stood up to guide the detective towards the CEO’s office.

The man knocked on the door twice before opening, letting the woman walk in before closing the door behind her. Haeun marvelled for a moment over the minimal design of the office she had stepped into. Whoever the interior designer was surely was paid handsomely for their work. She caught herself from wandering too far off and proceeded to greet the man.

“Ah, Detective Yoon. Have a seat, please,” he gestured to the sofa near him. Haeun guessed she had walked in when he was having a drink seeing how he settled the fine China cup on the coffee table. “Would you like to drink anything?”

“Thank you but I won’t be long,” she declined and took out her notebook instead. “I have a few questions to ask you and I’d advise you to answer all of them honestly.”

“Always happy to be of help towards the police forces,” he gave off a relaxed smile, one that nearly convinced Haeun that he probably had nothing to do with all these kidnapping cases. A shame his company had to be one of the connections they made. “I’m willing to cooperate if it helps you in any way.”

Hauen nodded her head and clicked onto her pen, “How does one get cast to be part of your modelling agency?”

“We usually have auditions every few months to look for fresh faces. Auditions are held by our management team and it’s a rule for us to look into their background, making sure they don’t have any heavy crime-related cases. The public doesn’t really favour those kinds of models,” he fixed his glasses, his eyes squinting slightly as he tried to recall something. “However, there are some cases where we street cast out models. I have a few people walk around specific areas and it’s their duty to find model-worthy faces.”

“Do you keep tabs on street casted people?”

“Yes, they are treated the same way as the other models and artist in our agency,” he stared at Haeun’s face for a moment longer than usual. Haeun raised an eyebrow at him, her confident posture not wavering even for a second under his stare. Being a female detective, she couldn’t count the number of times she’s had to deal with big bosses who thought they were above the law. After a few seconds does the man notice the quietness and quickly apologizes.

“Terribly sorry,” he placed down his cup, “I didn’t mean to stare – apologies for my rudeness. I couldn’t help but notice that you have a good face structure. You would make a good model or idol if you weren’t a detective.” He took out his company’s card and slid it towards her, “If you ever think of changing careers.”

Haeun took the card and wordlessly stuffed it into her pocket. It was a compliment so she thanked him for it. “Resuming our interrogation,” she cleared , “Is it possible if I were to ask for access to all of the people working under your company? All of the staff, models and artists alike.”

The man nodded his head, “I’ll pass the word to my secretary.”

“I’ll also need the names of the people who do street casting and the designated areas you focus on for your street castings.” 

The man nodded his head again and Haeun appreciated how cooperative he seemed although she shouldn’t judge someone based on what she sees. At least he wasn’t throwing tea or coffee or any other beverage in her face – another reason why she didn’t wear that much makeup whenever she went out for interrogation purposes. 

“What is the age limit for one to be part of your company?”

“Our youngest trainees are 14 years old and we don’t usually take in any younger than that. Our usual age targets between 14 to 27 years old,” he explained just as his phone began to ring. He held up his hand to the detective, “Excuse me for a minute.” He proceeded to stand up from his seat and walk towards the giant panel windows that showed a full view of the scenery in front of them. Haeun didn’t say anything as she waited for his call to end so she could wrap up the questioning and head back to Taeyong and the rest.

Her eyes wandered to the picture frames settled on his desk. Curious, she stood up. She picked up the frame and noticed that it was a younger version of the CEO. He had a bright smile on his face as he stood beside a child. Perhaps it was his son or daughter? She couldn’t really tell that well. She placed the frame down and looked at the time; it was nearly half an hour since she arrived here. “I should wrap things up by now,” she thought to herself as she settled back down on her previous seat just as the man finished his call.

“Sorry for the sudden interruption. It was a family member calling in,” he gave a brief answer, not spilling much about anything that didn’t relate to the topic at hand. “Do you have any more questions, Detective Yoon?” He fixed his tie as he stood near his desk.

“I need the names of those who were part of an ad shooting a few years ago. My team will send in the necessary details related,” she stood up again, this time getting ready to leave. She took out her own card and handed it to the man, “We’ll be in touch. Until this investigation is over, I’d prefer if your company would give us full cooperation to ensure our case will be solved quickly.”

The man took her card and gave her a short nod, “My people will be in touch with yours. Expect the information you need to arrive by this week. I’ll have them send them in as soon as possible.”

Haeun extended her hand out and the man shook it as she spoke, “Thank you for your time today, Mr Im.” With that, Haeun took her leave and headed on to the next agenda of the day. She gave a nod towards the receptionist as he quickly stood up once he saw her leaving the office. Her phone rang just as she was about to hop on her motorcycle and head back to the police station.

“Are you free for lunch?” Seonghan spoke the moment Haeun placed the phone near her ear. The detective hopped on her motorcycle and slipped on her leather gloves. She wedged the phone between her ear and her shoulder as she reached out for the helmet.

“Can’t. I have something up,” she answered back, pushing away some strands of hair from her face after a gust of wind blew. Seonghan started to suggest lunch for tomorrow or setting up another time for them to eat out together but Haeun’s attention moved elsewhere. She drowned out Seonghan’s voice as her eyes settled on a familiar figure heading towar