“Where are we in terms of searching the house?” Jinki asked as he walked into the conference room; each Wednesday, a meeting was held with detectives working on a case so updates could be given about said cases. And as always, Jinki arrived at 8 AM sharp.
Right now, the biggest case was the murder of Park Sooyoung, so four detectives were working on that while the other twelve in the department worked on other cases like robberies or assaults.

“Forensics have completed their analysis. No fingerprints could be found anywhere around the house except for the victim's, no repeated phone calls or texts showed up on her cellphone except for incoming and outgoing calls to her parents, and she hadn't reported anything odd to the police station. No stalkers, no restraining orders, nothing. It looks as if she had no problems with anybody...or, if she did, she didn't say anything about it,” Irene explained, slapping her notepad down on the table after reading through all the facts she scribbled down. She was always straightforward when giving her updates or reports, something her coworkers found refreshing during a long meeting.
“She also had no problems in terms of money. She paid all her bills on time, and the bank told us that she hasn't had any odd transactions in her account for the past year, meaning she didn't approach any loansharks for cash under the table. She wasn't rich, but she wasn't struggling either,” Kibum reported before glancing around the table at all the faces; everyone seemed frazzled as to what the reason could be for this woman's murder. Heck, even Kibum was stumped and the case had only started.

“We did, however, find some interesting notes around her home,” The third detective working on the case, a Kang Seulgi, said, and slid some sticky notes in ziplock bags to the middle of the table. They were taken in as evidence from the house, hence the ziplock bags.
“They don't make much sense to us right now because they're notes that don't correspond to one another. For example, one says, ‘he knows’. Another says, ‘Kim has to know why’. We'll conduct interviews with all the Kims found in her phone today,” Seulgi said as she leaned back in her chair, clicking her pen repeatedly as she stared at the pile of sticky notes; it seemed like a major find, but at the same time, it seemed useless since no one could decipher the meanings.

There was a murmur amongst the group in the conference room. They had the same feelings as Seulgi; the clues were a big find, but they weren't at the same time.

“We'll be interviewing her coworkers as well to get a general overview about the victim. Hopefully, we'll be able to find out something that isn't on paper,” Seulgi's partner, Yerim (or Yeri, as she liked to call herself), stated. Since this case was such a big one, she was requested to help while her total open cases were the lowest amongst the rest of the detectives. Kibum, Taemin, Irene and Seulgi were the sharpest intellects in the force, so it was understandable why Jinki added Yerim to the list afterwards; they needed all the help they could get.
Although it was rare, sometimes victims had a bad record for behavior or attitude at work that simply wasn't reported or noticed by superiors. Thus, there was hope that the victim's coworkers would be able to help with the investigation by giving valuable info that wasn't on a record somewhere.

“Good. Keep this steady pace until we find a workable lead,” Jinki nodded once before he put the case file at the bottom of the pile to move onto the next one underneath.

The meeting only took about half hour to get through seven cases, mainly because no one could really contribute much to their relative case or cases. Overall, the moral was low amongst the detective department since the cases were beginning to pile up; Jinki always preached about having a low case count as it gave the police station a good reputation. When the police station had that, he would give everyone a raise. It was understandable why everybody felt frustrated or disappointed whenever a new case came in and old ones going on for weeks were taking too long to crack and solve.

Jinki the kettle in his office to boil some water for his daily cup of coffee. He had to read through all the cases to see if there was a pattern, or something he could help with; he was everyone's leader, but he was no better than the average street cop in his own mind. To shrug off the cases for everyone else to solve wasn't being a good leader. He had to help, and thus lift the confidence of his subordinates.

He lived alone, mostly due to the fact that he worked too late to really take care of a pet or romantic relationship. Just like any person in a high position of a workplace, he had a lot of admin to get through each day, but he would never turn away a call for help from those who worked with him. This was why he was so loved by everyone - he cared deeply for each person individually as if he was their father or brother, even though he was stern when it came to taking care of work. He was friendly to everyone and always offered them a shoulder to cry on or some time off, but still, no one knew much about him outside of work.

“Come in,” He called out as he heard a knock at the door, turning away from the kettle which had just finished boiling.

Kibum entered. There was a plastic cup in his hand, and Jinki smiled at him, “what can I do for you?”

“I left to get some coffee for Taemin, and I thought I'd get some for you too. You like black coffee, right? Once a day?” Kibum asked as he held out the cup, and Jinki nodded with an even wider smile. He didn't expect someone to remember such a miniscule detail about him, especially not Kibum.
“Then have this,” He said as he handed the coffee to Jinki.
His superior accepted it with a little appreciative nod, and Kibum left soon after with a feeling of accomplishment. He didn't think Jinki would blatantly say no to the coffee, but he was still happy that it was accepted so easily.
Jinki sat down at his desk then to drink some of the hot coffee from the cup with a smiley face drawn on it with a marker, ignoring the empty, abandoned glass mug waiting to be filled with boiling water on the counter of his office.

Kibum approached his partner's desk, and unsurprisingly, he was on the phone with his boyfriend. This was such a common occurrence, it was a little odd not to find Taemin talking to Minho.
“...but I miss you 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒,” He said with a little giggle, and Kibum gagged in his head. Being so lovable with someone seemed like such a weird idea to him.
“You're lucky Jinki is in his office. Do you think he'd be happy to see you doing this instead of focusing on your work?” Kibum questioned as he sat on the free side of Taemin's desk, placing the latte down beside him where Taemin could reach it.
“Ugh, shut up, Kibum. It's a very important business call. Why would Jinki be listening in on us, anyway? Isn't that an invasion of our privacy?” Taemin clicked his tongue as he pressed the phone against his shoulder so that Minho wouldn't hear his complaints. Right after he was done speaking, he pressed the phone to his ear again, continuing as if Kibum had never tried to interrupt him. Some people would've thought of this as a very rude way for someone Taemin's age (25) to be talking to someone older than him (which it technically was), but Kibum and Taemin had a very good understanding; when it was personal or break time, they didn't want anything to do with their job. The late and spontaneous shifts, the constant work and the overall fatigue was enough for one day, they didn't need to be reminded of it when they didn't have to be.
Besides, most of this was just playful banter between the partners.

“You usually talk to Minho much longer than that. What, was he at the gym again?” Kibum retorted once he was back at his seat, noticing Taemin was now reading a magazine. He surely had work to do, but he never really did it while he was enjoying a latte.
“Yes. You know how he is. He always has to have the biggest muscles in the room, or else he's incomplete as a man,” Now, Taemin rolled his eyes - if there was one thing that frustrated Taemin the most about his boyfriend, it was surely how the elder man was at the gym nearly 24/7. If he spent less than 4 hours there a day, it was a miracle. Even though he went golfing every day, he still found time to hit the gym - Taemin had never been interested in sports, but he admired his boyfriend's dedication to his job and his fitness.

Minho was a rather popular golfer amongst middle-aged men and women alike; men for his devotion to sport and maintaining his healthy image, and women for being a dashingly handsome man with muscles. Sure, most people liked him for his looks, but there were others, like Taemin, who liked him for his kindness towards others. Most people would think that someone famous like Minho would be arrogant, selfish, and generally rude, but it couldn't be more of the opposite. He knew he was famous (that much was obvious whenever he was asked for autographs, although rarely since he wasn't as famous as some idols), but he didn't let it go to his head. He was humble, and often, it was like speaking to an old friend whenever talking to him.
Kibum had never met him properly, but he knew enough from Taemin's ramblings to know Minho was overall a good guy, both as a friend and a lover. That only intimidated Kibum more - if he ever wanted to steal Taemin's heart, it would certainly be difficult knowing who his boyfriend was.

Minho could feel the burn in his legs increase every few minutes as he jogged on the treadmill - he was covered head to toe in sweat, but that only urged him to work harder and push himself even further than his limit of fatigue. He had great stamina, but with it came the hunger for constant workouts and exercise. He craved the rush that came with running on the treadmill for a half hour straight, or the adrenaline that came with the bliss of knowing he could lift even more weights than yesterday. It wasn't about his looks or how big his muscles could grow - it never was, but they were certainly a perk - it was just about how far he could push himself and how he could get even better than he was yesterday. Some of his friends had told him that they were sure he was addicted to exercising (and some would've said steroids if he was interested in that type of thing), but he simply shook it off. Even if that was so, was it really such a bad thing? At least he was keeping himself in check.

“Minho-ah, done already?” One of the regulars at the gym that had somewhat befriended Minho, asked. He always had a smile on his face when speaking to the golfer, probably because he was so eager to tell everyone that he got the chance to talk to one of the biggest golf stars out there. Unfortunately, Minho never seemed to remember his name.
“Yeah. Gotta get home to make a big dinner for my boyfriend. He nags a lot that all I do is stay here and burn calories when I could be spending time with him instead,” Minho chuckled as he wiped his red face with a towel, stepping away from the treadmill. He would've loved to stay longer, but he wanted to surprise Taemin with a delicious meal since the blonde always complained about never coming home to such things.
“What a lucky man. I bet he must be grateful to have you, yeah?” The man continued, that same cheerful smile on his face. It would've been unsettlingly creepy if he seemed at least a little bit threatening.
Minho grabbed his bag, silent for a minute as he pondered the question; did Taemin really appreciate him? Or the things he did? Or was it all just a farce in hopes that they'd eventually start spending more time together? And was that Minho's fault, or Taemin's? Minho was busy at day, Taemin at night...

“Yeah, of course he does,” Minho grinned impishly at the other man, then headed home for a shower.

“I swear, if Minho is still at the gym by the time I get home, I'll break his leg so he can't go anywhere without me!” Taemin grumbled as he began packing up for the day - Irene, Seulgi and Yeri had conducted the interviews, and they'd collectively share their findings with Kibum and Taemin the next day since it was already 5 PM and everyone felt tired. Besides, Irene had a meeting with Jinki to find a partner; she was the only detective on the squad that didn't really have a fixed one and rotated between the ones that weren't too busy with other things whenever she had a call-out.
“Come on,” Kibum laughed at his friend's empty threat; there was no way Taemin would hurt his boyfriend.
“At this rate, he'd might as well marry that damn gym. I'll even help him pick out a ring,” The blonde clicked his tongue. He wasn't mad. He just liked having something to complain about, although that was the same reason his ex boyfriend left him.

Taemin was crazy about him - he even thought they'd get married eventually. They were compatible in so many ways. There was no doubt that they loved one another very, very deeply, and they supported whatever decisions one another made. They had a very understanding and open relationship, but Taemin had grown too comfortable and began getting too sloppy about what he said; he spoke too much and said things that hurt his ex boyfriend's feelings, but Taemin only brushed it off as jokes. By the time he realized these “jokes” and his constant complaining (although not serious at all) were real problems that needed to be worked on in their relationship, he got dumped. That was around the time he met Minho.

“Hey, earth to Taemin,” Kibum waved one slim hand in front of his partner's face to get his attention, and the blonde broke out of his reverie. He thought he had forgotten all about that moment in his life, but apparently, he hadn't.
“Yeah, I'm with you. Let's go. I was just thinking of someone...” He said in a daze while standing from his table.
“Of who? Minho again?” Kibum asked with a playful roll of his eyes.
“No, no. Of Jonghyun,” Taemin replied.
“Who?”
“Nobody. Take me home, please,”