o15 // almost

catch him if you can
chapter
15
 

Yerim fluttered her eyes open, Jaehyun is nowhere in sight. She stretched her sore back and looked around, seeing her brother pacing back and forth restlessly.

"John, have some hot tea. You should calm down your nerves. And—oh! You're awake. Good morning, Yerim. Want some tea?"

Yerim smiled and nodded. She stood up, noticing the coat on her shoulder and smiled fondly. She folded the coat and put it on Jaehyun's desk before following the guy to the pantry. She saw Detective Kim, sipping on a mug of tea and Jaehyun moving on and about pouring the warm brown liquid into two different mugs.

"Here."

Yerim shot him a thankful smile before accepting the drink, bringing the cup near her nose, inhaling the comforting scent.

"It's June 5th now. It's the d day," Doyoung mused.

"I don't have a good feeling about today, but please don't tell my brother that," Yerim piped in.

"Don't tell me what?"

Yerim jerked when she saw her brother entering the pantry.

"Anyways, do you want to shower?" He asked Yerim.

"Sure. Where's the bathroom here?"

"Near the locker room. You know where the locker room is, right?"

Yerim gave her brother an ok sign before leaving to take a shower. The shower cubicle was small and the water was cold but Yerim was thankful she could at least freshen up. She emerged in fresh new clothing fifteen minutes later to see her brother sitting atop his desk and his two friends lounging near him.

"The cursed box usually came near 9. It's already 9.15," Youngho commented restlessly.

"We should wait. Shall we wait outside?" Doyoung suggested.

"The precinct has CCTVs. Do we ever investigate who sent the packages?" Yerim inquired.

"The courier service left it in front of the front door and someone brought it inside to my desk. That's how it happened."

"Won't it smell?" Yerim raised a brow.

"No. The killer put naphthalene balls on the plastic packaging," Jaehyun answered.

Yerim nodded.

"I can't stand it. Let's go outside."

Yerim followed her brother outside and stood beside him. There were a few people coming in and out of the precinct, but mostly officers. Just then a familiar red and white truck parked itself in front of the precinct. Out of instinct, Youngho and Jaehyun tensed up, followed by Doyoung who moved forward instantly.

"I'll look out," Jaehyun patted Youngho's shoulder before walking outside the gate.

Youngho walked down the stairs and his eyes twitched when he saw the guy carried a familiar looking blue box.

"I'll call CSI," Doyoung said distractedly before pulling out his phone.

"I'll prepare the morgue," Yerim said faintly, knowing clearly what's inside the box.

"Package under the name Detective Seo Youngho?" Youngho asked, his voice wavering as he approached the deliveryman.

"Yes, that's right, sir. Are you perhaps the man?"

"Yes, I'm him. Let's… let's go inside first."

___

Jaehyun moved stealthily, pulling out his phone, pretending to take a call. His eagle eyes noticed a man with dark grey cap and green surgical mask peering behind a lamp post. His actions screamed suspicious. Jaehyun snapped a picture secretly, acting as if he was talking in a video call. The man in the grey cap suddenly turned at his direction, eyes widening before turning away and running.

"!" Jaehyun ran with all his might, cursing when the tall man ran into the busy street.

"Stop right there!" Jaehyun shouts, garnering attention. He cursed himself for forgetting to bring his gun, but it's not like he could shoot the guy since he's not a prime suspect. He quickens his steps, trying to move in between cars but then he yelped when the man suddenly swerved into a busy road. Jaehyun cursed when a motorcycle crashed against him.

"God, I can't handle a broken bone," he groaned as he lifted his , cursing when he saw that the man was gone.

"Sir! Why are you crossing—"

"I'm a police officer and I just lost a suspect," Jaehyun growled as he whipped out his badge, causing the motorcycle driver to gape.

"I-I'm sorry, Officer! Are you okay? You're bleeding!"

Jaehyun glanced at his scraped arm and brushed the guy off. "I'll be fine."

Jaehyun stood up and brushed up his dirty pants. The crossroad has CCTVs. He'll ask Officer Na to look it up later. For now, he needed to tend his wounds.

___

Yerim waited patiently as the CSI took pictures of the body. She grimaced when she saw Shim Yonghee's body which was pale and bloated, bluish red marks on her back, and a few cuts on her wrist. She did cut herself. Her body was twisted in unimaginable ways. She glanced to her left to see her brother, his facial features hardening in anger. Chief Kim is blowing up. Doyoung is restless. And Jaehyun? As if on cue, the door opened, revealing a messed up looking Jaehyun, cradling his bloodied left arm.

"Jaehyun oppa! God! What happened!" Yerim gasped.

Youngho turned around and his eyes widened immediately. "Jay?"

"John, I'm sorry, I lost the guy. I swear, I saw him! He was hiding behind a lamp post! I almost got him, goddamn it!"

"Look, we can worry about that later but you're bleeding!" Youngho exclaimed.

"Tell the Lee twins to bring the body straight to the morgue after they're done taking pictures. Jaehyun oppa, come with me. I'll fix up your wound," Yerim announced.

Jaehyun obediently followed the younger girl to her office, sitting at her couch while she rummaged her drawers for her first aid kit.

"This will hurt," Yerim announced as she took a metal basin from a nearby cupboard. She took Jaehyun's arm and instructed him to let it hover above the metal basin, while she pours what seems to be normal saline from an infusion bottle. Jaehyun grimaced when Yerim cleaned his wound using a sterile gauze.

"You hit the asphalt roughly. Thank god it didn't really damage your dermis. I'll put some anti-bacterial cream and cover it up with gauze. We need to change it again tomorrow though," she informed before dabbing his large abrasion wound with a dry gauze. She put on a glove and started applying an anti-bacterial cream around the scratches and covered it nicely with gauze, securing the edges with skin colored plasters. She took of her gloves and disposed it, now using her fingertips to touch his arm, inspecting it closely.

He hummed, liking the way her soft fingers glide against his rough skin. She was very gentle. "You okay?" Yerim asked when Jaehyun zoned out.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Thanks," Jaehyun said after clearing his throat. He was about to talk again when he heard commotions outside her office, meaning CSI is here with the body.

"I think the body's here," Yerim spoke up.

"We should get going then," Jaehyun nodded, standing up from Yerim's comfortable leather couch to follow the blonde girl outside. He could see Minhyung and Donghyuk along with other 2 CSI officers carrying a yellow bag containing the body.

"I think I probably should go upstairs, Johnny might need me," Jaehyun softly said to Yerim who looked a bit distraught.

"Of course, go ahead. Just don't put too much pressure on your arm. Let it heal first," Yerim patted his arm softly, causing him to smile instantly.

With a stupid grin decorating his face, he took the elevator up.

___

Yerim tied her long hair into a bun and put on a pair of gloves. Dr. Do is still working for KNPA so she had to conduct the autopsy by herself. She took a deep breath and start examining the outside of the body. She noticed the awkwardly placed limbs, grimacing as she corrected the positions. The killer didn't hesitate at all in breaking her joints.

"I'm sorry you have to go through this. I just hoped you were not physically in pain when you went through this," Yerim sighed.

She grabbed a piece of paper and wrote down a few information. The body is with black ribbons tied on both her wrists. Yerim noticed the opened and decaying slits on her left wrist. She did cut herself with a razor. She noticed the position of her fingers.

The body had been decaying for 4 days, but Yerim could still see the signs of cadaveric spasms on her right palm and fingers. She was attempting suicide. She cut herself. Yerim lifted her left wrist, noticing the deep wound. It looked deep enough to actually sever her radialis artery, which may be her possible cause of death.

Yerim carefully lifted her body, looking at the bluish red marks littering her backs. Her livor mortis indicated that she was positioned on her back after she died, in possibly a soft surface. A bed, maybe? She carefully stuck a thermometer on her , and went on examining her back, looking for other wounds or scratches. There were none. She took off the thermometer which read 15 degrees Celsius. Yerim flipped her back and wrote down her findings. Aside from the slits on her wrist and the badly broken joints, there were no other injuries on her body. She put down her pen and grabbed her scalpel.

"Shim Yonghee, I'm sorry for doing this. But I hope what I did would help discovering what happened to you," Yerin whispered, softly caressing the poor woman's cheek before carefully making an incision from her shoulder blades down to her chest, and then down to her pelvis so she could examine her insides. The smell was awful but Yerim was used to it. Tightening the mask on her face, she took her scalpel to start taking out the organs by the systems. She started with the lungs and the trachea, slicing them carefully and putting it on a metal basin, continuing to the heart and the big vessels, and then the intestines. She was in the middle of weighing her stomach when the door to the morgue opened.

She was half hoping it was Dr. Do coming to help but it was not him. Jaehyun entered the morgue and blinked when he saw Yerim holding a stomach, her hands which was holding the organ hung midair as she stared at him. In front of her was Shim Yonghee's body, cut open, with her organs placed on different metal basins.

Jaehyun shuddered and cleared his throat. "Your brother sent me here. He wanted an update."

"Oh, sure. I've done the superficial exam, but I haven't typed it out since I'm working alone. It's on that paper," Yerim said as she looked at the scales.

"Should I help you out, then? Uhm, with typing stuffs, I mean. Not that I have the knowledge needed to perform autopsy," Jaehyun stammered.

"Uhm, the pen is dirty… you might want to use yours," Yerim said when Jaehyun was about to pick up the pink pen.

"Eh? Um, okay," Jaehyun winced. "Where's your laptop?" Jaehyun asked.

"In my office, ca—"

"I'll get it," Jaehyun smiled and walked away, coming back with her MacBook. He took a seat on a desk, a good distance away from the examining table. He wondered how Yerim could stand the smell.

"There's surgical masks on the drawer," Yerim smiled, noticing how Jaehyun kept sniffling and scrunching his nose.

The man sheepishly grinned and fetched a mask for himself. He went on to typing down her findings, slightly amazed at her detailed works. He sent the partially done report to Johnny before turning to her who was taking samples from Shim Yonghee's stomach.

"Need to send it to CSI?" Jaehyun asked.

Yerim nodded. "I took samples from her stomach and her intestines. We need to confirm whether she was really taking Alteplase instead of Fluoxetine," Yerim pointed to the two tubes.

"I'll go send it to the Lee twins. I need to see their DNA examination results from the body as well," Jaehyun reached out his hand.

Yerim placed the tubes into a zip lock bag and handed it to Jaehyun. "Thanks a lot for helping out, oppa. It's a bit difficult without Dr. Do here."

Jaehyun shrugged and smiled behind his mask, "It's okay. We need to move fast anyway. Your brother is agitated. Chief Kim wasn't pressing him or anything but the Deputy seemed like he was a step closer to call the prosecutors."

"Ah, right. You guys hated the prosecutors."

Jaehyun nodded solemnly. "Alright, I'll go to the twins. I'll probably come back in an hour or so to check up on you. Thanks for the temporary report, Rim. I've sent it to Johnny and Doyoung," Jaehyun said as he walked backwards to the door.

Yerim chuckled, "Of course, oppa."

___

Jaehyun disposed the mask and whistled as he entered CSI's office. He noticed the Lee twins on their workspace, typing furiously on their PCs.

"Officer Lee."

Both men turned their heads and blinked. "Detective Jung," they talked simultaneously, creeping him out a bit.

"I brought samples from Dr. Kim."

"Great, put them here. I'll run it for toxicology test," the shorter Lee, Officer Lee Donghyuk said.

"How about the DNA?" Jaehyun asked as he handed the zip lock bag to him.

"We only found her own DNA, Detective. Like I always said, the killer is very meticulous and clean with his work. Which was infuriating. Has Dr. Kim figured out the cause of death?" The other twin, Officer Lee Minhyung spoke up.

"Not yet, she's working alone since Dr. Do is being stationed temporarily with KNPA in the main office. She has finished the outer exam and so far, our theory was proven right. She did slice her own wrist, Dr. Kim confirmed that it was indeed suicide. But she needed to take a deeper look on the insides to make sure," Jaehyun explained.

Jaehyun sat down on Officer Lee Donghyuk's desk as the man left to process the sample from Yerim. The man came back 10 minutes later with a flash disk on his hand. Jaehyun stepped down and watched as the man plugged in the device and typed quickly before printing out a document.

"Please tell Dr. Kim it was indeed Alteplase on her stomach and intestine. She ingested quite an alarming amount. I think she was correct about the suicide part. But she needs to figure out whether the victim died from overdosing or blood loss," Officer Lee Donghyuk handed the document to Jaehyun.

Jaehyun nodded, sending a quick text to Doyoung so the man could inform their restless team leader. "Anything else?"

"So far that's it. The fingerprints and DNA we obtained from the ribbons belonged to the victim only. The DNA and fingerprints on the box belonged to the victim and the courier who sent the box. And Detective Seo since he was the one who opened the box."

Jaehyun nodded again, texting the newly acquired information to Doyoung. "Alright, I'll take my leave then. Thanks, Officers."

"Likewise, Detective," they answered in unison, causing Jaehyun to shudder. Twins are scary.  

 
notes

hii! btfg here! sooo, i was thinking of posting this chapter a few days back then the whole jaehyun going out to itaewon thingie got blown up and i was taken aback for a second. it was disappointing, because i've been stuck inside since march. the whole lockdown situation had put me in such a hard time. i'm a medical student, and i just graduated on january and i was supposed to start my internship (clinical rotation) on april, an i was so pumped up about finally being in the hospital, meeting patients, and learning more things, but then due to the pandemy my internship was cancelled until an unknown period of time. it's the month of ramadhan, and i can't visit my relatives, i can't do things that i normally due during this month. knowing that he went out to have fun while other people are staying inside trying so hard to cut the transmission chain is disappointing. but i knew, soukor had a different policy, and the goverment had put a lift on the lockdown. he went out before a confirmed case was announced. he voluntarily accepted to get tested when he showed no symptoms and he isolated himself afterwards. he apologized as well. jaehyun is an adult, and he knew he made a big mistake, and he reflected on it. it's saddening that people are dragging him so much, and it made me mad that dispatch was spewing out lies and rumors regarding this case, making it seems bigger than it actually is. i hope everyone continued to support jaehyun! he made a mistake and as a fan we should remind him about it, but at the same time we have to learn to forgive and to continue to support him.

 

AND FOLKS THAT'S THE END OF MY TED TALK, SUPPORT PUNCH Y'ALL

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byuntaefangull
I finally got back to writing and managed to whip out chapter 3!

Comments

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KimHyeJoo #1
Chapter 33: Okay so this comment will be a long one.
First, I actually accidentally found this when search some medicalAU and i absolutely glad. The pairing is such a bonus bcs Yerim and Jaehyun is shipable!
The storyline is so good! Can’t believe I just found it yesterday.

Yerim is so smart and lovable. Johnny really is oppa-able, Doyoung is so kind, and Jaehyun god! I imagining him as a police officer is danger itself lol

I love how you write the epilogue, as you write epilogue for every character you had in this story!
Big thanks to you for write this story albeit you busy with medical school!❤️

And, I’m sorry too! I decided just leave a longass comment instead comment on each chapter bcs the storyline is intriguing and I want to read asap hehe peace

Anyways, thank you!! I’ll be visiting your other story soon☺️☺️
2slugilfs #2
💕
2slugilfs #3
❤️
astralhoe
#4
😩😩😩
carlatricia #5
Chapter 31: I definitely miss this family ❤❤❤
carlatricia #6
Chapter 1: I'm reading this again while waiting for your update on your new fic 😍
onyourvelour
#7
Chapter 1: jesuh christ-
thejeongjaehyun
#8
Chapter 8: I just realized while reading this chap. Yerim also fit the criteria. 30 years old. Has a tattoo. Lived in the states.
thejeongjaehyun
#9
Chapter 8: I just realized while reading this chap. Yerim also fit the criteria. 30 years old. Has a tattoo. Lived in the states.
thejeongjaehyun
#10
Chapter 8: I just realized while reading this chap. Yerim also fit the criteria. 30 years old. Has a tattoo. Lived in the states.