Moon Byulyi leaned back in her desk chair and looked at her reflection cast in the window.  The night sky of Seoul sprawled out from her perch on the third floor of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Station.  The desks next to her were empty since it was nearly 1 am and unfortunately that meant she’d missed all the subways for the evening.  It didn’t matter though.  She was actively trying to work herself to exhaustion since it was the day before the anniversary.

 

Maybe if she was exhausted and sleep-deprived she wouldn’t have to think of the gun shot that ended her father’s life and changed her family forever.

 

With a sigh, she turned back to look at her work gleaming under a scrawny desk lamp and the glow of her computer screen.  It was a stack of thick files she was compiling for her Department Chief with her analysis on the gang activity in Daerimdong.  The Bureau of Crime Investigations was getting busier and busier with undocumented members of gangs being murdered in warehouses and run-down buildings as a warning.

 

The thought of the sudden spike in drug stings she’d had to be on the last month made her reach for her paper cup of coffee, grimacing when she realized it was empty.  Byulyi rose from her seat and walked down the eerily half-lit pathway to the water jug, ripping open a packet of instant coffee with her teeth.

 

“You’re here too?”

 

Byulyi startled a little and glanced over her shoulder.  Bae Joohyun looked ghostly in the white-cast from her make-up and the poor lighting as she sidled up to her.  Her white lab coat looked rumpled despite the distinct smell of starch that lingered around her collar.

 

“Of course I am, Officer Moon.”

 

Byulyi huffed at the formal title as she turned back to fill her cup with scalding water.

 

“Joohyun-unnie, why are you even awake right now?  The lab techs always seem to get out of here before it gets dark.”

 

“My supervisor made me work late since I was the only one familiar with processing the finger print samples with the new machine.”

 

“So he made you do all of them instead of just letting you lead a seminar like you asked?”

 

Byulyi glanced over at Joohyun and they gave each other sad smiles at the silent answer.

 

“Unnie, just wait until you’re head of the lab techs and you can put that guy in his place.  Just because you’re not married he feels like he can work you to death.”

 

“I would get married… if I could.”

 

“Jiwon-unnie probably feels the same, I’m sure.”

 

Byulyi caught Joohyun smiling at the comment and she handed the other woman her cup.

 

“Want some?”

 

“Didn’t you chew all over this?  I think I should drink from a different cup if you don’t mind.”

 

An indirect kiss Byulyi heard distantly whispered in the shell of her year.  An old memory that seemed to always rise to the surface as the anniversary got nearer and nearer. 

 

“Oh yeah sure.  Here.”  Byulyi handed Joohyun a fresh cup and watched as pale hands meticulously tore at the coffee packet and poured with the precision of a chemist. 

 

“Unnie, this isn’t the lab, you know.”

 

Joohyun responded with an annoyed shove and Byulyi let out an amused laugh.

 

Byulyi had met Joohyun a few years ago when she had started working as an assistant officer, fresh out of the academy.  They were both pulling all-nighters, trying to impress their supervisors with their work ethic and overcome the ogling eyes of men that seemed to be unable to see past a skirt. 

 

Now they had formed a kinship of sorts, swapping gentle jabs and paper cups in the purple light of dawn. 

 

“Have you made the arrest yet?”

 

Byulyi paused at the question, mid-sip.

 

“We can’t without an actual name.  A lot of these guys come from China without proper documentation so even if we do have prints we can’t exactly find them.”

 

“Isn’t that when you kick through a door and do your detective thing?”

 

“I only did that one time,” Byulyi corrected tiredly as she finished the rest of the sugary instant coffee in a long gulp.

 

“Yeah and it was all over the news.  You kicked that guy so hard in the head that he had a concussion.  He tried to sue the department.”

 

“Well he shouldn’t have been standing right behind the door.  What kind of idiot does that when he’d been hiding from the police for two weeks?”

 

“The urine samples indicate it was someone who was extremely high from a cocktail of very illegal drugs.”

 

“Alright ,Doctor Bae, I’ll keep that in mind the next time I kick through a door.  I had a warrant, you know. It was legal!”

 

Joohyun just rolled her eyes as she started to walk away, waving a hand over her shoulder.

 

“Text me if you want to catch the first bus back.   I need to get a change of clothes since these are all wrinkled.”

 

“And because Jiwon-unnie is probably missing you?”

 

Byulyi grinned as Joohyun tiredly threw her empty paper cup at her as she exited the bull pen, the heavy wooden door slamming shut.  She smiled a little, trying not to let jealousy curl the ends of .  Truly, she was happy for Joohyun.  She’d been with the same person since high school and they were very in love, living together in an apartment in Seoul with decent jobs.  It was a dream that she had whispered about to Yongsun between library book shelves, exchanging tentative kisses that were sweeter than the chocolate she would bring the other girl after cram school.

 

Now Byulyi couldn’t help but frown whenever the cloying sweetness of chocolate coated her tongue, the taste bitter at the influx of memories.

 

“Back to work, back to work,” she muttered as she returned to her desk and the piles of paper.  Honestly it was thanks to Yongsun that she even had ended up becoming a police officer.  She’d been planning to try to go to college after high school and figure her life out there but then the other girl had been a headline on a newspaper with a picture to match.  Byulyi still couldn’t quite remember the title but all she had been able to recall seared in her memory was the agony at seeing on one side a smiling Yongsun and on the other a charred corpse encased in a body bag.

 

High school girl caught in the cross hairs of a gang war.

 

And that was true.  To a degree.

 

Byulyi stretched her arms over her head as she let her eyes flutter closed.  She’d take a power nap to let the caffeine kick in and then she’d be slamming the keyboard until the first bus rolled around at 4:30. 

 

She tipped her back, getting a little comfortable in her chair as her eyelids got heavier and heavier.  Faintly, she could hear her wrist watch ticking steadily with each passing moment as she slowly faded away into sleep.

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

Byulyi knew it was a dream the moment her eyes opened.  She was lying on her back in her high school uniform on a familiar bed.  She flicked her dark bangs from her eyes and looked up at Yongsun who was straddling her, smile wicked.

 

She grinned a little helplessly at the illusion, reaching forward and rubbing a thumb over the warm skin of Yongsun’s cheek.

 

“Isn’t it a little weird that you keep thinking of us as high school students when you dream about me?”

 

“Well you never grew up, Yongsun-ah.  So in my dreams we have to stay the same.”

 

Yongsun huffed and leaned back a little, arms crossed over her chest as she pouted.

 

“Would I have to call you unnie, now?”

 

“Maybe even auntie,” Byulyi joked as she shifted up onto her elbows.  Her eyes traced the gentle slope of Yongsun’s cheeks, her wide smile, her long dark hair that was tied back in a sloppy pony tail.  The dream’s lighting made the other girl’s skin warm in the golden hour between light and darkness. 

 

“For the anniversary, are you going to do what you did last year?”

 

“I don’t really remember what I did last year, unnie.”

 

“Idiot.  Getting blackout drunk at some club in Hongdae and needing to call a friend to come get you.  I’m surprised you didn’t get fired.”

 

“They’d never get rid of me, unnie.  I turned in my own father to the police when I found out he was working as a thug for some gang in Daerimdong.  I’m the inspirational story you read about in the recruitment pamphlets.”

 

Yongsun tilted her head in concern as she choked on her words. Byulyi marveled a little at how her own subconscious could be simultaneously so kind yet so cruel as a warm hand wiped up the tears welling in her eyes. 

 

“I’m so proud of you, Moon Byulyi.”

 

Byulyi’s mouth twisted and she pressed gently against Yongsun’s soft hand.

 

“I-I know you aren’t real.  And that this is just my subconscious making up a fantasy from all my memories of you.  But could you do me a favor since the next few days will be especially hard on me?”

 

“Of course, Byul-ah.”

 

“Could you kiss me? Sometimes I forget what that even felt like.  It’s been nine years after all.”

 

Yongsun rolled her eyes playfully shoving Byulyi back a little. 

 

“You really are the same.”

 

Byulyi just grinned through the tears, patiently waiting on her elbows as warmth blossomed over the bow of .

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

Byulyi’s eyes fluttered open as the patrol car came to a sudden stop.

 

“God, Sandeul, can’t you drive a little better?”

 

“Sorry, sorry.”  Byulyi gave her partner a glare with barely open eyes, before lifting her arms over her head and stretching with a shameless yawn.  Another murder in Daerimdong, this time the body had been left in an alleyway.  A little too intentional to be a simple skirmish between gangs.

 

Byulyi opened the car door and followed Sandeul to the string of tape blocking off the dirty alleyway wedged between a run-down restaurant and a make-up road shop.  She paused at the mouth of the alleyway, peering through the darkness at the throng of investigators bagging evidence.  What caught her eye, however, was the blood splatter on both sides of the alley walls.  It had been a violent death most likely with a blunt object.

 

“We’ll need to wait for the medical examiner’s conclusion but I think they beat the out of this guy before they left him for dead.”

 

“Another crime of passion because of the gangs?”

 

“What else could it be?”

 

Byulyi hummed as she continued to stare at the narrow alleyway, lips pursed in thought. 

 

“This is an alleyway off the main road.  Wouldn’t a gang want to place the body somewhere that would leave a strong impression on the gang they were trying to intimidate? This is just a place where anyone could see it.  It seems more like it was trying to appear like a sloppy warning.”

 

“Well aren’t they all a little sloppy? Organized crime is just a bunch of thugs trying to vie for the top dollar.”

 

Byulyi scoffed and affectionately punched Sandeul’s shoulder.

 

“You’ve never met a mob boss then, I take it.”

 

“How could I have? You think a king pin would have anything to say to me besides a bullet in my brain?”

 

Byulyi paused at that, slowly clenching and unclenching her jaw as she studied the sloppy crime scene before her with a frown.

 

“Hey you!” 

 

Byulyi startled as she saw a man running in her direction, being chased by a throng of officers. 

 

“What the hell…”

 

She merely stuck her foot out and let gravity do the rest as the man tumbled to the ground.  Byulyi lunged forward, digging her knee into his back as she pressed him into the dirty concrete.

 

“Why were you running?” she growled out, grip tightening on the cheap black jacket hiding his form.

 

Silence.

 

“Why were you running?” she repeated in halting Mandarin.  Still no response.

 

She glanced behind her at the officers who had finally caught up to the man they had been chasing.

 

“What the hell is going on here?”

 

“We saw him watching the crime scene a little too curiously, Detective Moon.  When we approached him, he just started running away.”

 

Byulyi hummed as she stared down at the squirming man in interest. 

 

“Well let’s bring him in for fingerprints, then.  Maybe this case has a little more meaning then in-fighting between thugs.”

 

Suddenly the man beneath her laughed.  Byulyi frowned at the sound and she glared down at him as he turned to look up at her, cheek pressed firmly to the ground.

 

“Office Moon, gang expert.  I’ve heard a lot about you.”

 

Byulyi bared her teeth at the admission, purposefully digging her bony knee a bit deeper into the man’s kidney.

 

“Good things, I hope.  I would hate it if there were a lot of rumors about me.”

 

The man whispered something and Byulyi had to lean forward to hear it.

 

“What?”

 

“You better be careful.  Considering the boss has unfinished business with you after that stunt you pulled when you were a little girl.  You nearly ruined everything.”

 

Byulyi felt her stomach bottom out at the words and she glared down at the thug.  She tightened the grip on his collar with a squeeze.

 

“The boss? That bastard died and his whole kingdom disappeared along with him.”

 

But the man lapsed into silence closing his eyes to indicate he was finished with the conversation.

 

Byulyi scoffed.

 

“We’ll let the interrogators get it out of you then.  I can be patient when it comes to the truth.”

 

“The truth?”

 

Byulyi glared down at the man, her stomach flipping uncertainly at the disbelief in his tone.  When Sandeul pulled him out from under her and put him in the cop car, she glanced around the crime scene.  Scanning the faces of the crowd, she tried to see if there were any other suspicious stragglers. 

 

Suddenly she saw movement.  It was a woman, judging by her silhouette in loose fitting clothes and a dark baseball cap.  Byulyi frowned as she watched the retreating figure, opening to stop her.

 

“Yah, Moon Byulyi, we have to get to the office to get this guy checked-in.  I’m not gonna be the one explaining this to the chief.”

 

Byulyi rolled her eyes and gave Sandeul a dismissive hand gesture, but when she turned back to find the woman, she had vanished.

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

 

Byulyi angrily uncrossed her legs as she sat up straighter in Chief Kim’s office.

 

“Nothing? Are you serious?”

 

Byulyi glowered at her superior who avoided her furious gaze uncomfortably, scratching the back of his neck.

 

“Officer Moon, listen.  He was probably just a curious bystander who got scared by a bunch of police officers chasing him.  We can’t hold him here without evidence and the questioning wasn’t very fruitful. He has nothing on him so we have to let him go.”

 

Byulyi grit her teeth as she tried to suppress the anger that tickled the back of . 

 

“Don’t you find these murders a little strange, Chief?  We’ve had three homicides in the past month! Statistically speaking, this is a crime crisis considering how low murders are in South Korea.  This guy could really have some sort of connection to what’s been happening in Daerimdong!”

 

“Officer Moon, please.  If you had arrested him for questioning with actual evidence, maybe we would be having a different conversation.”

 

Byulyi huffed as she dropped her gaze, jaw clenching and unclenching slowly.

 

“Alright, Chief Kim.  I’ll personally let him go.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

Byulyi stood up to bow curtly before turning to leave.

 

“And Byulyi?”

 

She paused, hand raised to open the door.

 

“Yes, sir?”

 

“You can take tomorrow off.  If you want to.”

 

“Sir, I’m not weak. It’s been nine years!”

 

She couldn’t help the annoyance in her voice.  She was sick and tired of the sympathetic eyes and the simpering pats on the back.  But she would always hear their whispers.  Oh poor Moon Byulyi.  She’d just been trying to do the right thing and turn her father in.  And then her dad had gone and offed himself, choosing to sink with the capsizing ship of his gang then live on in a prison cell.  In the aftermath, her dear friend Yongsun had been found burnt to a crisp beyond recognition.  Poor poor Byulyi with the bright future who had studied hard to get a scholarship for college.

 

Poor poor Byulyi, the tongues had wagged at her in bouts of insomnia, the voices distorting into what she imagined Yongsun’s screams had sounded like as she’d been covered in oil and set on fire.

 

Her lip curled at the thought but she tried to still her trembling shoulders as she looked back at the Chief.

 

Their eyes met and she saw nothing but quiet understanding.

 

“You know I was the Inspector on the case, Byulyi.  I saw your father and the girl’s body as well.  I’m not calling you weak for maybe wanting one personal day.”

 

Byulyi dropped her gaze, trying to ignore how her eyes burned with unshed tears.

 

“I’ll be going, Chief.”

 

She shut the door behind her carefully and strode off, angrily pressing the buttons of the elevator to take her to the holding cells.  Her fingers trembled a little and she hissed in annoyance, balling her hands into tight fists as she stomped into the empty elevator.  She tipped her head back against the cool wall of the elevator and breathed steadily in and out.  It was just stress and exhaustion.  Everything would be fine.  She’d get through the next few days and everything would just go back to the way it always was. 

 

When the elevator dinged open, Byulyi straightened and strode toward the holding cells, not a hair out of place.

 

“Hello, Officer Moon,” chirped the guard, raising a hand.  “Here to release the guy you brought in earlier?” 

 

“Yep.  I’ll be releasing him personally.”

 

The guard nodded and rose, pulling a ring of keys from his back pocket.  Byulyi watched from the desk as the prisoner stood behind the bars of the cell, eyes unwaveringly meeting her gaze. 

 

“You’re free to go,” the guard chirped.

 

“Thanks,” the man bit out curtly, adjusting his jacket in unchecked irritation.  He walked toward the door, pausing a little as he passed by Byulyi.

 

“Don’t think you’ll be off my radar, Min Jungho.  We have your prints and records on file if I should ever run into you again.”

 

“I’ll look forward to it,  Officer Moon.  Have a happy anniversary!”

 

Byulyi stiffened at the words, blinking slowly as he disappeared out of sight.  It was as if someone had poured freezing water down her spine, startling her awake.  She jumped when the door slammed shut behind him, the moment over just as abruptly as it had begun.

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

 

“You want another one? Seriously, unnie?”

 

Byulyi just smiled as she emphatically shook the empty glass in her hand.

 

Hyejin sighed as she heard a customer call for another cocktail on the other side of the bar.

 

“You’re lucky it’s busy tonight, Unnie.  But I’m cutting you off after this one.”

 

“Hyejin-ah, please don’t!”

 

The other woman ignored her plea and just gestured to another bartender to get on whatever order Byulyi had in mind.  Perks to being friends with the owner of a popular bar in Hongdae.

 

“Could I have a vodka cranberry, please?”

 

“Ah, the boss said she’d only let you do drinks without hard liquor.  May I suggest perhaps one of our beers on tap?”

 

Byulyi sighed and gave a half-hearted thumbs up as she slumped into her seat, chin pillowed by her crossed arms on the bar.  The words of that stupid thug echoed in her ears like a broken record.  Happy Anniversary.  How the hell had he even known?

 

It wasn’t possible that all of those thugs in Daerimdong still remembered Moon Joosang’s daughter.  After Yongsun had been murdered and her father had offed himself, the gang seemed to disappear from existence.  The case had been closed without further leads and although Byulyi had gone on to work as a police officer, her past hadn't seemed to conflict with her work.  Until the Daerimdong murders.  Now it seemed like someone from the incident from nine years ago was suddenly stirring the pot.

 

Byulyi moaned into her arms as she tried to focus enough to make her head stop spinning.

 

“Here’s the beer you ordered.”

 

“Thanks.”

 

Byulyi sat up and took a sip from her glass, grimacing at the bitter taste.  Hyejin really did like her darker German lagers.  She swished the dark liquid around in the glass, mind prickling at a memory.

 

“Unnie, we’ll get in trouble!”

 

Yongsun giggled in response as she placed the paper bag between them.

 

“If it’s just a can of beer what’s the harm?”

 

“But we’re high school students!”

 

Yongsun rolled her eyes as she kicked a socked foot at Byulyi’s leg.  She’d smuggled the beer can in her backpack with the excuse that she wanted to study with Byulyi after cram school.  Byulyi’s mother had complied with an easy smile, forcing her curious two younger sisters out of the room.  If only her mother had known just how much trouble Yongsun would get Byulyi into.

 

“Byul-ah, please? For me?”

 

Byulyi glanced at Yongsun who was tilting her head prettily, eyelashes fluttering.

 

“Only because you’re my girlfriend.”

 

“That’s enough for me.”

 

Byulyi scoffed and popped open the beer can, curiously examining unfamiliar writing on the side.

 

“Is this… a German beer?”

 

“Yeah, it was one of my dad's.  He likes the finer stuff.”

 

“It’ll be bitter.  I don’t think I can do it, Unnie.”

 

Yongsun suddenly leaned forward, mouth warm and soft against Byulyi’s.  She grabbed at the girl in surprise, toes curling at how the gesture made her heart pound in her chest.  The other girl pulled apart a little and kissed her again.

 

“I think my sweet kisses will take care of that problem.”

 

Byulyi wrinkled her nose at the corny comment but when she took a sip of the bitter liquid, Yongsun’s kiss served as the sweetest chaser.

 

Taking a deep gulp of the beer, Byulyi squeezed her eyes shut as she felt the effects of the multiple drinks she had finally hit her.  She leaned her cheek against her fist as she sipped from her big beer glass, eyes half-lidded and suddenly sleepy. 

 

“Someone wanted to give you this.”

 

Byulyi blinked owlishly as the bartender slid her a chilled can of beer.  She glanced down tiredly and stiffened.  It was the same beer she’d had with Yongsun all those years ago in her bedroom.  She rose shakily to her feet, scanning the crowded bar.

 

“What did they look like?”

 

“They were wearing a baseball cap but I’m pretty sure they were a woman.”

 

“A baseball cap… was it black? Were they wearing baggy clothes too?”

 

“Yeah! Do you know them?”

 

Byulyi was up in an instant, slapping down a handful of won bills as she grabbed her coat from her chair.  She pushed through the throngs of people, belatedly realizing she didn’t say goodbye to Hyejin.  But honestly this was much more pressing.  A potential suspect for the Daerimdong murders was running around trying to about the worst moment of her life. 

 

She pushed open the bar doors with her shoulder, numb to the pain as the chilly winter air stung her face.  Squinting in the darkness, she scanned the street for movement.  But no one was there. 

 

“Damnit,” she cursed, grinding her jaw in frustration.  Maybe she was going crazy. 

 

Sighing, she grabbed a pack of cigarettes from her back pocket and trotted to an alleyway to smoke.  Byulyi leaned against the dirty wall and cupped a hand around the end as she flicked her lighter.  It was then she felt cold metal tickle the back of her neck.

 

A gun.

 

“Hello, there,” Byulyi greeted levelly, straightening her posture as she took a drag from her cigarette.  “Unless you’re a high-ranking police officer, you shouldn’t be carrying one of those.”

 

The gun pressed harder against the back of her neck in response.

 

“Okay, okay.  I won’t get mouthy.  But I think you’ve been following me.  Whoever you are.  And it seems you have some sort of connection with the Daerimdong murder-suicide from nine years ago.”

 

“Perhaps.” 

 

Byulyi tensed.  The voice was clearly feminine but it was pitched lower than normal.  The woman was clearly trying to mask how she truly sounded. 

 

“Can I turn around?  Or will you shoot me.”

 

“I wanted to give you a warning, Moon Byulyi.”

 

Byulyi tilted her head curiously.  She dropped her cigarette from and stomped on it with the heel of her boot.

 

“Oh? What for?”

 

“Stay out of Daerimdong.  Next time, if I catch you over there, this gun won’t be used as a warning.”

 

“It’s my duty as a police officer to protect people.  If my work brings me to Daerimdong, then I will be in Daerimdong.  Maybe you should stop murdering people.  Then you wouldn't have to see me again.”

 

Suddenly Byulyi was shoved against the wall of the alleyway, a lithe body pressing against her with the gun angling her head up and to the side.  She couldn’t quite make-out more than the bill of the baseball cap and slim shoulders covered by a worn black hoodie. 

 

“Stay out of Daerimdong.  Or maybe next time the police will find your body.”

 

“Is that a threat?” Byulyi whispered, hands clenching and unclenching as she waited for an opportunity.

 

“It’s a promise.”

 

And then Byulyi twisted her body to the side, slamming her hand hard against the woman’s wrist that held the gun.  Not waiting for her to regain her composure, Byulyi lunged forward, pressing her body flush against the other woman’s to keep her still.

 

“I graduated at the top of my class at the Academy.  Did you really think just a gun would be enough to get me?”

 

The woman said nothing, her head bowed and face covered by the bill of the black cap.  Byulyi tilted her head toward the other woman, reaching forward to move the hat a little more upward.  She could just make out the shape of a roundish face and a delicate jaw.  And the mouth seemed almost like-

 

Her surprise was all that the woman needed to punch her so hard in the gut that Byulyi fell to her knees, the breath knocked out of her.  She scrabbled to get back up but the other woman was already scooping up her gun and sprinting out of the alleyway.  By the time Byulyi got to the main street, any hope of catching the black cap wearing assailant was gone in the crowded throngs of Hongdae. 

 

“Damnit,” she cursed again, slamming a fist against the alleyway wall.  Byulyi rubbed at her eyes tiredly, trying to ignore the image she’d seen because it was absolutely impossible.

 

There was no way the woman who had threatened her at gun point was Kim Yongsun.  She’d been burnt to a crisp in a warehouse with Byulyi's father after she had spilled everything to the police about how her dad was helping with a human trafficking and drug ring in Daerimdong. 

 

It was impossible.  Moon Byulyi had to be going crazy.  Her ex-girlfriend from high school wasn’t gallivanting around with a gun.  She was cremated in an urn on a shelf that Byulyi was going to visit tomorrow.

 

“Get your together, Moon Byulyi,” she hissed, wedging another cigarette between her teeth.  But her nerves made her hands shaky and despite how many times she flicked at her lighter the flame just wouldn’t take.