Moon

The phone on the nightstand rang for the third time, but Haneul was too occupied to hear it ringing from the living room. 

She had her legs propped up with a computer on her lap, trying to do her last minute revisions before submitting unfinished work to the Institute.

“Your phone’s ringing, beautiful!” Mingyu’s voice called from the hallway. He peeked into her room and had not seen her there until he heard tapping on a computer.

“Can you help me get it?!” Haneul roared from the living room.

Mingyu laughed and went into Haneul’s bedroom to retrieve the ringing phone. The caller ID was from the Institute. 

“It’s the Institute calling!” Mingyu shouted loudly. 

“Pick it up!” Haneul shouted back. 

Mingyu picked up the call and raised it to his ear. He heard a woman’s voice from the other side. 

Thinking that it would be more useful if Haneul could hear this while working, Mingyu headed quickly to the living room with the phone on speaker mode. 

The woman began to speak confidently without taking a break to check who was on the receiving end.

“Hello, Miss Haneul. This is Sujin from the Institute. I’ve heard from Mr. Jung that you will continue your brother’s work. I was his assistant before he passed and I thought you might receive this phone call well. I just wanted to let you know your brother was working on the field before he...well...yes. We were gathering information on a few cases and it led us into the forest. Maybe you will find my email useful and continue there. I really wish I could help you, but Hanbit left behind some unfinished work I would like to finish on his behalf. Mr. Kim should be able to give you a helping hand.”

There was finally a break from the other line.

Mingyu had sat down next to Haneul, her phone placed on the coffee table.

“I’ve just checked your email, Sujin. Thank you. I will give it a read and follow up on the rest. Is there anything I should know before we end the call?”

“My pleasure. Before Hanbit went into the forest, he received a phone call from the police station.” Haneul dropped what she was doing and quickly grabbed the phone from the table. 

“After receiving the call, he told me he was going to make the trip on his own, but Mr. Jung didn’t let him leave by himself so he sent a few others. I didn’t know it would be the last time I would see or hear from him.”

“Are you sure? Did you hear anything that was exchanged between my brother and the other person?”

“Unfortunately, I do not know much. I’m sorry.”

“That’s alright. Thank you for letting me know. I will see what I can find and report back later.”

“No problem! It was a pleasure talking to you. I have to head back to finish some work. Let me know if you need anything while you’re out there, okay?”

“Sure. I’ll talk to you later, Sujin.” Haneul hung up the phone call and sat back. She turned to Mingyu and looked at him.

“Looks like we have to make a pit stop at the police station,” Haneul said seconds later. Mingyu grinned and stood up from where he was seated, pulling Haneul along with him. 

“Go get ready. I’ll make you some brunch I’ve learned from Seungcheol hyung before we head out.”

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As the evening quickly approached, Haneul and Mingyu rushed out of the house. 

They were speed walking towards the main road and quickly hailed a taxi from around the corner.

“To Seongnam Police Central Station, please,” Haneul directed the taxi driver who nodded in return and began to speed up. She turned to look at Mingyu and he gave her a reassuring smile.

“It’ll be okay. We will find something,” Mingyu mumbled under his breath. 

Haneul was nervous, but she was also curious. She wondered if Hanbit had heard anything peculiar from the police station before he headed into the forest that day. 

It didn’t take them long before the taxi stopped in front of the police station. After paying the driver, Mingyu and Haneul headed forward towards the station.

Officers were hustling and roaming around the station, occupied with their own work than paying any attention to Haneul or Mingyu’s disguised form, Mr. Kim. 

Haneul was a little overwhelmed since she wasn’t given any names or numbers to ask anyone for help. She felt a light tap on her shoulder and turned to see Mingyu pointing to an officer who was oddly just on his phone. 

The two exchanged quick glances and slowly made their way over to the officer’s front desk.

Clearing , Haneul greeted the officer with a smile, “Hello.” 

The officer didn’t care to give her any attention so Haneul was stuck in an awkward position. That didn’t last long because Mr. Kim, Mingyu’s disguised form, had slammed the desk with a fist. 

Surely, that got the officer’s attention really quick.

The officer looked up and made an annoyed expression. Nonetheless, he straightened himself and assisted Haneul and Mingyu.

“How may I assist you?” he asked. Haneul scanned his face and then for a name. She saw his nametag pinned to his uniform which read: ‘Oh Sehun’.

“I’m trying to find information about my brother’s death and was wondering if you can help me,” Haneul said. Sehun stared at her and scratched his head. He started to type on the computer in front of him and then looked up, “What was your brother’s name?”

“Kang Hanbit.”

Suddenly, there was some commotion in the middle of the station.

Some drunken men were making a ruckus while Sehun was trying to find the name Kang Hanbit on his computer.

Mingyu was well aware that something was going on, but he hadn’t pinpoint what it was yet.

Sehun scratched his head again then looked up, “We have records of your brother speaking to one of our officier a few days ago.”

Haneul’s eyes rounded, “May I know who that may be?”

Sehun stared at Haneul, “Sorry, but that will be confidential.”

“Are you serious?” Haneul couldn’t help, but growl under her breath.

“Rules are rules, but-” Sehun said, pausing to take a sip of the coffee on his desk. He proceeded to stare at Haneul, staring into her eyes for a long minute.

Mingyu suddenly bared his teeth, just enough so that only Haneul and Sehun could see within their proximity. Doing so helped Haneul snap out of her little staring contest with Sehun.

Sehun smirked and turned to look at Mingyu this time.

Haneul could hear Mingyu’s low growl and a few seconds later, Mingyu’s red eyes flashed before them. She grabbed his hand and clenched them tightly, hoping to help him calm down.

Haneul knew that something was going on if Mingyu had put his defenses up. Oh Sehun may be a police officer on duty, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be something else when he’s off duty.

With a strong hold on Mingyu’s hands, Mingyu slowly calmed down and glared at Sehun. The officer sat in his seat, unfazed by Mingyu’s presence.

It seemed like the tw