Water wraps around him like Death's cold embrace, and the currents push him around and away, and by each second, he is farther from where he had taken the plunge and is continuously carried to whichever direction the undertow sweeps him. He holds his breath for a long time, amazed at his lungs' capacity to do so with ease. He figures this would happen as it had been a part of his plan. When it boils down to it, he'll escape to the river and let it take him wherever it goes and never look back. That way he doesn't have to worry about the consequences. He can always start somewhere. He can pretend to be someone else all over again. He can make this elusion work. The deed is done, and the police can do whatever they want with the information he has given. Surely something, anything, will reveal itself that could lead to the gateways of truth. He doesn't have to worry about justice. He just wants to give someone in the opposite playing field the upper hand. There is always the possibility that Santi is right. Maybe the police force does work for Kwon and his group; maybe a much bigger fish is behind them pulling all the strings, but Howie keeps in himself the hope that someone else is out there to fight the good fight.

"Huh?" the police officer stares at the small cardboard box in his hand with a dumb look on his face, while in the other he is holding the telephone to his ear as he listens to the continuous beeping sound the disconnected call is making. 

"Lee! What the hell are you doing lollygagging around?" Captain Richard Park snaps at him. The towering man of lengthy limbs and big eyes had apparently materialized behind the desk after having gone to the bathrooms and is staring down at the corporal as he sets the phone back down. He hadn't noticed that the police captain had already returned. The senior police officer's eyes drill a hole into Corporal Lee's forehead as he waits for the rookie to come to.

"Sir, someone just delivered a package, said it's addressed to the station," Officer Lee explains. The captain brazenly snatches the box from the rookie and opens it without a second thought. Inside are strips of paper shredding that he digs into, underneath which lies a small dime bag containing two deformed metal beads. Upon closer inspection, the police captain realizes these are fragments of two bullets that had once been fired into something and eventually retrieved.

"What the are you doing with these?" Captain Park blurts out accusingly at his subordinate.

"It was a package, Sir. I just told you," says the rookie in defense. "And may I also add..."

"What?" snarls the captain.

The rookie winces, involuntarily winking one eye as he feels an imaginary blow to his chest. "There was a phone call earlier, and the person on the line just said Tiger Kwon of Eastern Sun Group. Nothing else. I feel like it's a prank call."

"Tiger..." the captain's eyes widen as he mutters the name, his voice trailing off quietly under his breath. He shoots the corporal another glare. "Don't tell anyone about this. And forget about everything you just heard."

It is Corporal Lee's turn to furrow his eyebrows questioningly, but before he could come up with anything to say, he hears the captain grumble once more. "I'm serious, kid. Now go back to your ing post."

Corporal Lee walks back to his own desk. That's a little odd, even for Captain Park. Usually, the captain does seem strict, but he isn't one to dismiss the rookie when unusual things come up. But he had to admit that unusual things don't pop up when he's around anyway, so maybe that would have been Captain Park's appropriate response. Still, something in the corporal can't help but get curious. Captain Park had seemed disturbed by the presence of the bullets. And he's not going to act like extracted bullets delivered as a package is something other than highly suspicious. So what could that possibly mean? Why had they been sent to the station, via express delivery of all things? And who was that man on the phone? Did he send the package? It had been just two minutes or so between the delivery and the call, so could the caller have timed the arrival of the package before he dialed up the station number? Is this supposed to be a tip for something? More importantly, who is Tiger Kwon, and what is Eastern Sun Group?

Leaning back into his chair, the rookie interlocks his fingers and places his hands at the back of his head and lets them hang there, fully stretching his body as much as his stiff swivel chair allows. He exhales slowly, letting all his worries out in the process. Being a rookie does have its set of challenges. He's unaware of the goings-on of cases that had preceded him. Against his better judgment, Corporal Lee takes to his desk computer and searches up the keywords Eastern Sun Group to their database, and the results list down several private-owned bars and nightclubs, a few motels under various names but the most notable ones being Striped Sunrise, and finally an automotive service business co-signed as one of the companies under JH Corporations. His flippant meddling prompts him to extend his research and type in the name Tiger Kwon, but there is no conspicuous documentation that shows up right away other than the person's association with the enterprises. But further down his scroll, the rookie officer comes across official file reports from the National Navy that include proper identification for Tiger Kwon. The reports state that his real name was Henry Kwon; he was born on the 15th of June on the year 1990, and he was accepted to the force when he had freshly graduated from high school at the age of 18, but was given an other-than-honorable (OTH) discharge due to a later diagnosed personality disorder that caused him to be erratic and disruptive, often challenging commanding officers. After Kwon tried to steal military-grade weapons such as an M249 plus several rounds of ammunition, and an M203 grenade launcher, proceeding to go rogue on a mock operation his unit was conducting on one of the Navy bases off of the country's Southern coast, he was subsequently apprehended before he could even get the chance to hurt anyone. He was sentenced to 10 to 15 years in naval prison but had only served 2 years before finally getting admitted to a psychiatric hospital for the next 5 years in accordance with several professionally conducted psychological evaluations that have proven the preexistence of his Antisocial Personality Disorder, worsened drastically by the development of his undiagnosed schizoaffective disorder. Finally, in the summer of 2015, Kwon was let out due to his family's request. The chaotic amalgamation of issues with destruction, violence, and defiance to the presence of authority had contributed to the making of Tiger Kwon who had ultimately abandoned his past life as Henry. But it would seem as though after all those years, he had eventually turned his life around to start anew as a businessman.

"Seems pretty legit," Corporal Lee derides, mumbling to himself softly.

Someone clears their throat behind the corporal who instantaneously pivots his head towards the direction. Police Chief Raymond Kim had been unmistakably following Corporal Lee's readings displayed on his desktop as he scanned his eyes back and forth across the screen, his sharp gaze and unamused expression signaling the beginning of a good scolding for the rookie police officer.

Fully prepared, the corporal immediately gets up to his feet and formally salutes his superior. "Chief!" he greets, bracing himself for the castigation that is about to come. Except, Chief Kim just gestures towards his office, to which the rookie regards with a glance. From where Captain Park sits, he notices that the chief and the rookie are about to enter the glass door to the chief's workroom without a single word having been exchanged between the two of them. Out of curiosity, the captain urgently, but discreetly, walks up to the rookie's desk after the two had left, and peeks over at what Corporal Lee had been doing, gasping in horror as he realizes what the deal is truly about. The captain clicks his tongue and inhales sharply, agitation building up in his body as he tenses, shuffling on his feet while debates whether to rescue the rookie or not. After contemplating for a few seconds, he follows Chief Kim and Corporal Lee to the chief's office.

Corporal Lee waits for the chief to finish talking into his phone, just like his superior had ordered for him before dialing someone up. When the call has connected, Chief Kim spends a good two minutes conversing with the person on the other line, the rookie mindfully perceiving the back-and-forth. Amidst the police chief and the other person's hushed dialogues, the door to Chief Kim's office suddenly bursts open as Captain Park comes barraging in. The captain watches agape as the Chief of Police puts his phone away and stands up, extending his arms towards the stunned rookie, who accepts obediently.

"Congratulations on your promotion, Sergeant Daniel Lee," Chief Kim announces, engendering the confounded look on the rookie officer's face to intensify. "Mayor Boo's secretary is on her way to express his well wishes."

"What?" the rookie mouths absently as he retrieves his hand back. "How?"

"How?" the chief returns the question, his face contorting into a pretentious cheerful smile. "This is me acknowledging your hard work. Don't you want that?"

The blindsided rookie's eyebrows furrow even deeper as all common sense proceeds to evade him. Two years into the force, and an unanticipated promotion falls on his lap in the early morning hours of some random day at the cusp of Spring. "Why? With all due respect, Chief, that doesn't make any—"

"Would you rather have me fire you for illegally conducting unauthorized investigations?" the chief interjects, stumping the rookie mid-sentence.

"Illegally?" Daniel Lee echoes. His mind runs back to his prior research before registering the actuality of his situation. "Sir, this is..." blackmail, he wants to say. This is corruption. But the chief's expression speaks louder than Daniel's thoughts, rendering him defenseless.

"He'll accept the promotion, Chief," a voice interrupts, only then bringing attention to Captain Park that has beared witness to the entire affair.

"No—" starts the rookie's protest, just to be cut short as the captain continues to speak.

"I'll take care of this, Chief," Captain Park stipulates.

"Good," Chief Kim exclaims with finality, not even sparing the rookie one glance. "You're both dismissed."

The captain salutes before dragging the rookie out of the police chief's office. When he is sure that they are away from the chief's earshot, Captain Park shoves the newly promoted Sergeant into a wall, his eyes bearing a scowl sinister enough to send shock waves to the lower-ranked police officer. "What did I ing tell you?" the superior officer asks through gritted teeth.

"I didn't tell anyone," Officer Lee claims, "just like you said."

"But you got ing caught! How stupid can you be, Lee?"

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