The day was proving to be quite a busy one for the agents. Let us quickly recap what has happened thus far: Hoya and Kris had gone off in search of Park Hana. Chen and Sungjong were re-interrogating the suspects of the case. Myungsoo had resumed work with feelings of frustration, and Sungyeol… Well, Sungyeol was carrying out his duties like his usual aloof self.

Chanyeol, too, had not been spared from the flurry of activity. About forty minutes after he’d reported for work, the head secretary, Park Jooyeon, had called him down to the main office.

“Here, this is for you.” Jooyeon handed the agent a note with a name and telephone number written on it. “Do you remember who Lee Jangmi is?”

Chanyeol thought back to his case notes. “She’s Lee Seonwoong’s daughter, right? The one who left Seoul because of an argument with her father?” he guessed. When Jooyeon nodded in affirmation, he gave himself a mental pat on the back. 

“That’s right,” Jooyeon said. She glanced at the silent telephone that stood beside her computer. “I received a call from her about ten minutes ago. Apparently there was something important she wanted to tell us regarding her father’s death. Normally I would have called Hoya or Kris down instead of you, since they’re the ones who interviewed her, but they left prior to the call on case business. Something about searching for a Park Hana. Anyway, Sunggyu said to just have you call her back. I hope you’re not too busy right now.”

With a shake of his head, Chanyeol responded, “Nah, there’s not much I have to do. Just a bunch of researching the victims’ family histories, but nothing that can’t wait until after this call.” And plus, the lanky male felt it was now his duty to contact Lee Jangmi. He was, after all, a part of the team that had first been assigned to Lee Seonwoong’s murder. He would be responsible for her.

Chanyeol bid the secretary a goodbye and headed back to his office. Once seated at his desk, he stared at the paper with Jangmi’s number on it. The agent briefly wondered why she had decided to call HQ. According to Jooyeon, it had been because of something “important”, but… What was so urgent that it had prompted Seonwoong’s daughter to call them today, at ten o’ clock in the morning? What more did she need to tell them that she hadn’t mentioned during her interview? Silently, Chanyeol speculated on these thoughts for a moment, then focused his attention back to the task at hand.

Grabbing his phone, he quickly punched the number in. The machine began its usual routine of monotonous ringing. Briiing, briiing. Briiing, briiing… Just as the noise was starting to echo in his ears, the ringing came to an abrupt stop. Somebody had picked up the other line.

“Hello?”

“Yes, good morning.” Chanyeol cleared his throat. Although he normally liked talking (he was a regular chatterbox, as Chen put it), he always felt a little awkward speaking with people regarding case matters. It felt so formal and uncomfortable for him. “Ms. Lee? My name is Park Chanyeol, and I’m one of the agents investigating your father’s death. I was told that you had something you wanted to tell us…?”

“Yes, that’s right.” Lee Jangmi sounded expectant, as if she had been waiting for his call. In a brisk, no-nonsense voice, she skipped the formalities and got straight to the point. “Ever since the day I was brought in for questioning, I couldn’t stop thinking about my father’s… what happened to him. There were many things bothering me and my head was a mess, so I took some time to figure everything out. Finally, after I woke up this morning, I remembered something which I thought would be of particular use to you.”

“What is it-“ Chanyeol began, but Jangmi interrupted him.

“Our house. How thoroughly did you search it?”

“Err- Very thoroughly, I’d say. With a house that big, it took almost four hours to look through everything. I know because I was one of the agents searching.” Chanyeol felt bemused. What was this all about? Surely the lady wasn’t calling because of trespassing issues? “I know we should have asked for your permission before, seeing as you’re the rightful owner now. But we had no way of contacting you, and-“

“That’s alright,” Jangmi cut him off again. “Under those circumstances, I wouldn't have blamed you. Besides, I’m not calling because of that. What I want to know is: did you find the secret room?”

Chanyeol sat up in his seat. “The what? Did you just say secret room?” He immediately felt intrigued. When they had searched through Seonwoong’s house, there hadn’t been any sign of a secret room. At least, Chanyeol was certain he hadn’t seen anything. What exactly did Jangmi mean?

“Yes.” There was a pause, and then a shuffling noise in the background. Chanyeol was about to comment on it, but before he could, Jangmi continued with the conversation. “When I moved to Gwangju fourteen years ago, I gradually forgot parts of my life in Seoul. The secret room was one of them. But last night, as I was going over some estate papers, the memories came back to me.

“It’s a hidden room on the first floor,” she went on, “Behind the bookshelf near the fireplace. There’s a button underneath the bottom ledge. If you were to press that, the shelf would rotate and reveal a short hallway, which leads to the hidden room. Very cliché, I admit. But our house was built over sixty years ago and had been modeled after Victorian-style architecture, so it’s not a surprising feature.”

Chanyeol nodded in agreement. Then he remembered that they were speaking through the telephone, so she couldn’t see his response through the land line. “That was actually my first thought,” he voiced instead. “I thought it looked a lot like the houses they have in England.”

“Yes, I suppose that’s where the architects drew their inspiration from,” Jangmi answered. “Anyway, I’m getting off topic. The point is, you haven’t found the room yet. Do you think it’ll be of any help to you?”

“Maybe.” Chanyeol absentmindedly traced his desk with his index finger. “We have a pretty good, detailed profile on your father and his past, but… There’s also a lot of stuff we might not know about him. It’s possible that he could have hidden some things in that room. I might go today and see for myself.” Furrowing his brows, he quickly ran different possibilities in his mind.

“What makes you think this information is going to help us? Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate you taking the time to tell us. But why do you sound so sure that we’ll find something there?”

There was a long pause. Not wanting to disturb her train of thoughts, Chanyeol remained silent. His fingers, however, had a mind of their own. They couldn’t help but drum restlessly on his right leg. Chanyeol wasn’t a patient person- far from it. If he was kept waiting for a certain amount of time (usually anything longer than thirty seconds) he would start to fidget and get all impatient. Like he was doing now.

Roughly five minutes had passed before Jangmi finally answered back.

“I don’t really know,” she told the restless agent. Her voice sounded subdued now, more quieter, like she had just awoken from a reverie that she wasn’t sure if she liked or not. “When I was a young girl, I spent most of my time playing in that room. My parents were frustrated at first. They preferred me to go outside and get fresh air than lock myself in a dank, enclosed place. Eventually, they let me be. My father even grew to like that room, as well. We sometimes played in there together when he wasn’t busy with work.” She paused again. This time, Chanyeol had no wish to hurry her along. He understood that, beneath her heavy silence, there were feelings of nostalgia and grief hurting her. It was something that he and the other agents had seen too many times before.

Jangmi cleared . When she next spoke, her tone was low, raw, but determined, like she had resolved to aid Chanyeol and bring as much peace to Seonwoong as she could. “Call it a hunch, Mr. Park, but I believe that my father continued to use that room after I left. He may have decided to store his research notes and equipment there, or even other kinds of information. Threats, perhaps, from rival researchers, or warnings from the loan sharks he borrowed money from. You see… There were many things he tried to hide from me.”

“He must have had a difficult life.” Chanyeol ran a hand through his hair. He tried to sound as sympathetic as he could (and he was, he really did feel sorry for Seonwoong), but a new wave of excitement was rising in his chest. It overtook the pitying feeling he’d previously had for Jangmi. A secret room! A real, live secret room! Sure, he’d read about them in books and saw a few in some movies, but this… This was real. It was real, it was here, and he couldn’t wait to take a look at it. “But thank you, Ms. Lee, for letting us know. We’ll be sure to keep you posted on what we find."

“It was no problem, inspector. Thank you.” Jangmi’s reply was quiet again. “Anything to help find the person who killed my father.”

------------

Kim Sunggyu was stressed. Very stressed. It was now twelve days after the first murder, twelve days after Lee Seonwoong had been killed. That was 288 hours, 17,280 minutes, or 1,036,800 freaking seconds  (if one wanted to get technical). It was also, according to the Director of the National CSI Bureau, unacceptable and completely irresponsible news of him. Why haven’t you solved this case yet? What are you people doing there, slacking off? I expected answers, Kim Sunggyu, and look at what you have so far…

The Seoul branch leader sighed. He had just finished a tense and rather lengthy phone call with the Director. Needless to say, the man hadn’t been very pleased. He’d criticized Sunggyu for their lack of results, and had even threatened to send his own team to Seoul. They  would solve the case, he’d said. They  would manage to find the killer soon.

Exhaling another breath, Sunggyu pinched the bridge of his nose. He could feel a huge migraine coming on. Actually, his head had been hurting since the beginning of the Mockingbird case, but today, it felt more painful than usual. No doubt it was thanks to the Director’s telephone call.

I expected answers, Kim Sunggyu, and look at what you have so far…

The branch leader winced. He tried to dismiss the throbbing in his temples, although he knew that wouldn’t work. What he needed was an aspirin pill to soothe the pain. Unfortunately for him, he had eaten his last one that night before. And there was no other way of medicating his migraine. With a set jaw, Sunggyu turned his computer on. Maybe it would go away after some peace and quiet-

“Sunggyu! Hey, Sunggyu! Listen to this!”

Or maybe not.

Sunggyu glared at the person who had burst through his door. “Have you ever heard of knocking, Park Chanyeol?” He tried to keep the irritation from showing on his face, but after a few seconds, gave up with little success. Let  Chanyeol be on the receiving end of his wrath. Let  the world know that Kim Sunggyu was mad.

Chanyeol, on the other hand, appeared to be as happy as a clam. “Guess what I found out?” he asked excitedly, ignoring his boss’ anger. He entered the office in only three strides, putting to use his elongated legs that many other agents envied. “Lee Seonwoong’s house has a secret room!”

“So?” Sunggyu eyed his companion. He was still feeling irate from before, but Chanyeol’s announcement had drained some of his frustration away. “You searched his house ten days ago with your team. Why are you bringing it up now?”

“Because.” Chanyeol waved his arms in the air. “We didn’t know  about it ten days ago. We had no idea that there was a hidden room in that place. It’s only thanks to Seonwoong’s daughter, whom I just got off the phone with, that I now know there’s something we missed in his house.”

The CSI leader stared at him. All traces of his previous anger had vanished. His eyes were narrowed and his lips pressed together, giving the impression that he was doing some quick thinking. “What do you have planned for today?” he finally asked.

“Me?” Chanyeol seemed taken aback by his abrupt question. “Just researching family histories. I thought maybe I’d find something to tie the victims together with, or to the murderer. Why?”

Sunggyu shook his head. “Forget about that. I’ll tell one of the intelligence guys to handle it. Instead, I want you to go check out that room in Seonwoong’s house. A secret room…” His tone said that he was still deep in thought. “I don’t know what will be in it, but I have a feeling you’ll find something to help our investigation.

“Take Chen with you,” he continued, now speaking more briskly. It was strange, but the more he talked, the more Sunggyu felt back on track. His headache had disappeared, now replaced with determination to solve the case once and for all. “I know it’s just a house you’re visiting, but there’s a possibility the killer might be lurking around there again. I don’t want to take any chances on that. And just in case, I’ll send Kris as back-up for you. He and Hoya went out earlier, but they’ll probably finish whatever they’re doing soon. If not, I’m sure Hoya will be able to handle it by himself. When are you leaving?”

Chanyeol grinned. “Right after I’m done talking with you. Although, I’m not so sure about the Chen thing. He started interrogations about twenty minutes ago.”

Put off by the minor setback, Sunggyu frowned.  “Did he? He said he would have those done by yesterday.” He frowned into space, not really looking at anything in particular, before addressing his subordinate once more.

“Okay, fine. Take Woohyun then. Knowing him, he shouldn’t be too busy today. Make sure he does his share of the work. Tell him these are orders from the branch director if he refuses.”

“Gotcha, leader,” Chanyeol laughed. There was a bounce in his step as he turned around, ready to finally leave and explore the secrets of Seonwoong’s hidden room.

Just as he was twisting the doorknob, Chanyeol paused. He looked over his shoulder to glance at the Bossman. “On second thought, do you mind telling Woohyun for me? I don’t know where he is now and it’ll take me forever to track him down. Plus, I still have to grab my stuff from upstairs.”

Sunggyu looked at him with a hint of disbelief. “It’ll take you ten minutes at the most to get ready and leave. Are you really that excited to explore Seonwoong’s house?”

The look he received in return gave him his answer.

“Alright, alright,” Sunggyu sighed. He waved his hand towards the door, gesturing for Chanyeol to leave his office. “I’ll tell him. Just make sure you guys get something  over there.”

With a wide smile, Chanyeol gave a military-style salute to his boss. “Will do, sir!” he chuckled, then exited the room. Sometimes, he reminded Sunggyu of the weaponry agent Zelo so much, it was scary. They had a physical resemblance- both men were tall and gangly, like they belonged to a family of giraffes- but their mentalities were similar, as well. They were like children, really. Innocent, playful, and way too trusting of their leaders.

Sunggyu relished the peace that the taller male left behind. In the stillness of his office, he could almost believe there was nothing wrong in the world, that everything was good and okay and rightfully in place. That he wasn’t leading a team of crime scene agents, doing their best to bring a cold-blooded murderer to justice.

But he was. And he couldn’t afford to waste any more time on it.

The leader reached over to press the intercom button. “Jooyeon, can you call Woohyun down here? Tell him it’s an emergency and to come as soon as possible.”

“Right away, sir,” was his secretary’s reply.

A few moments later, Woohyun was seated in front of him.

“Morning, Gyu! How’s the day treating you so far?” he asked cheerfully.

As he had with Chanyeol, Sunggyu eyed his all-too relaxed friend. “It’s almost noon. And if you must know, horribly,” he said shortly. He could feel some of his migraine returning. Admittedly, it wasn’t as bad as before, but it was still enough to make him feel grouchy all over again. “I’m going to cut to the chase here. Chanyeol’s leaving for Seonwoong’s house in five minutes, and I want you to-“

“- go with him to scope out that secret room, right?” Woohyun finished his sentence. He snickered at the surprise in Sunggyu’s expression. “I met him on the way down. The guy was so excited, I could barely get a word into what he was saying.”

Sunggyu, recovering from his startle, shot the amused agent a glare. “If you knew, then why are you here?”

Woohyun was too used to Sunggyu’s moods to be offended. “I figured you’d be feeling snappy,” he replied, leaning back in his chair. “We’ve barely talked for the past few days, so I thought seeing me would help perk you up.” He sent a wide grin in Sunggyu’s direction, who couldn’t help the snort leaving his mouth.

“Hardly. My headache was getting better until you showed up.” He ignored the indignant look that appeared on Woohyun’s face. “But since you’re here, I might as well give you all of the details. You and Chanyeol are going to Lee Seonwoong’s house, where you’ll be searching the hidden room her daughter informed us of. You may find something that could connect him to the killer or the other victims. Originally, I wanted Chen to go instead. He’s busy with interviews, however, so I had no other choice but to call you.”

“You’re only asking me because Chen isn’t available?” Woohyun sadly shook his head. “Ouch. Never knew being the second choice could hurt so much.”

Sunggyu looked at him in exasperation. “You’d better go. Chanyeol’s probably ready to leave by now. I don’t want him barging in here and demanding to know what’s taking you so long.”

“Do I get a reward if I go?” Woohyun’s voice was teasing.

“How about I don’t fire you?” Sunggyu attempted to sound threatening, but all that came out was a tired sigh. “Just go. Chanyeol’s waiting.”

Woohyun was uncharacteristically quiet as he rose from his chair. Perhaps he knew that he’d crossed the thin line separating Sunggyu’s patience and intolerance for his jokes. But as he was reaching for the door, Woohyun suddenly turned around to face the branch director once again. “Hey, Gyu? You should start smiling more. That frown on your face makes you look uglier than you normally are.”

Sunggyu narrowed his eyes. What was this fool going on about now? “Are you implying that I’m not good-looking?”

“Of course I’m not implying that.” Woohyun appraised the older man. “I’m saying  that you’re ugly.”

He held up a hand to stop any on-coming protests. “Hey, all I mean is that you need to start smiling again. I don’t want to be seen with a guy who looks so grumpy all the time.” With one last look-over, he turned back and pulled the door open.

“Besides, it’s not good for your health. You’re looking too tense for your own good. So just do me a favour and smile, okay? Who knows, it might make your migraine go away.”

He walked out, leaving Sunggyu to stare silently at the door behind him. It was quiet in the office again. All that remained were Woohyun’s words, echoing in his mind like a bell from the Notre Dame tower.

“You’re looking too tense for your own good. So do me a favour and smile, okay? It might make your migraine go away.”

“Stupid Woohyun,” Sunggyu muttered to himself. “Always thinks he knows what’s best…” But as he spoke, he could feel the corners of his lips tugging upwards. They kept rising until gradually, there was small, reluctant smile in place of his frown.

Woohyun was right. His headache was now gone.

---------

Coughing, Woohyun did his best not to step on a box. “How long do we have to stay in here? I can hardly breathe with the amount of dust everywhere.”

Chanyeol gave him his signature grin. “Until we find something useful. That might take a while, so bear with it. And breathe through a handkerchief if the dust is bothering you so much.” He laughed at his partner’s grumbles, then glanced around his surroundings.

“Isn’t this place cool? Look at how big it is! You know, I’ve never been inside of a hidden room before. It’s like that bathroom in the second Harry Potter movie.”

“You mean the Chamber of Secrets?” Woohyun, too, peered around. The two agents were at Seonwoong’s house- or more specifically, they were standing inside of the secret room. Like Chanyeol had said, it was certainly a spacious place, but the boxes and equipment pieces in it made it seem more cramped than it was. Woohyun sighed. He figured it would take forever to sort through everything. Already he felt a strain in his willpower, increasing his reluctance to work. “I don’t know if the Chamber was as messy as this. Look at this place! I bet nobody’s used it for years, not even the old man.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Chanyeol wrinkled his nose at the cobwebs in the corner. “Jangmi thought he used this place as a storage room, to put all of his lab stuff in. Maybe he shoved his equipment in here and forgot all about it.”

“But he was a researcher. That was his job,” Woohyun said, puzzled. “He would have needed his things to continue his work. Why would he store his notes and tools away when he would have needed them at the time?”

Chanyeol shrugged. “I have no idea. Let’s call Jangmi later and see if she knows anything about that. We should probably call the company he worked for, too, and ask them as well.”

“Good idea. We can do that when we get back.” Woohyun looked at the pile of boxes in front of him and sighed again. Sunggyu owed him one, he thought surly, before addressing the taller agent beside him. “I guess we’d better get started on this. Do you think there’s any chance Kris will come if I request back-up?”

“Kris? Fat chance,” Chanyeol laughed. He squatted down to the closest box next to him, which was a lone package lying on its side. Opening the flaps, he waved a cloud of dust away to avoid breathing it in. “You know what he’s like. If I’m your back-up, don’t call unless it’s an emergency. And by emergency, I mean you’re either dying, giving birth, or chasing after a criminal. Anything else, you can handle on your own.”

Still feeling disheartened, Woohyun reached for the first box in his pile. He grimaced when his fingers made contact with the dirty cardboard. “Too right, I know what he’s like. Where did he get that cruel mentality of his, from Sparta?”

“Probably,” Chanyeol replied. “Anyways, it doesn’t look like there’s anything interesting in here. It’s only an old microscope and some slides.”

Woohyun looked at him gloomily. “Well, that’s one out of what appears to be a thousand. Keep going. There’s still a lot more to cover.”

The two men worked for what felt like an hour: they would open a carton, dig through its contents, then deem it of interest or push it to the side. So far, nothing they’d found looked like it would help their investigation. Most of the items in the boxes were notes and lab equipment. There were no threatening letters, as Jangmi had thought, or clues to direct the agents to the identity of the killer.

After uncovering what seemed like his twentieth box, Woohyun exhaled a breath. “There’s nothing here,” he said in frustration. A bead of sweat trickled down his neck. Besides clues, there were also no windows or fans around. So, despite the chilly November weather outside, it felt like a stuffy sauna in the room. “All I can find are research reports and old tools. And I feel like I’m suffocating now. Didn’t the constructors of this house have the sense to install ventilation systems here?”

“Come on, it’s not that bad.” Chanyeol tried to lift his spirits, although he was clearly overheated as well. “Think of how cold we’d be outside. And look at the notes Seonwoong made! They seem pretty interesting to me.”

“Do you understand what any of it says?” Woohyun squinted at him.

Chanyeol shrugged. “No, not really,” he admitted with a grin. “I was never a science person back in school. I just think the equations look cool.”

Snorting, the tired man turned to a carton which he hadn’t opened yet. “They look cool to you? Equations only give me a headache. A huge, raging, pain-in-the- head… ache...” His voice trailed off as he stared at the object before him.

“Chanyeol. Look at this.”

Something in his tone must have showed he was serious, because in the next second, the lanky male was crouching down beside him. “What? What is it?” he asked in a hushed voice. He followed his partner’s gaze to the box, which had bolded, capitalized letters etched on the top.

“’WARNING: DO NOT OPEN’,” Chanyeol read aloud. “Hey, there’s a picture of something underneath it. I think… It looks like…” As he examined the label more carefully, realization dawned in his eyes.

“It’s a mockingbird. Oh man, it looks exactly like the one Youngjae showed us! There’s a picture of a mockingbird  on this box. You don’t think-“

“I do  think.” Woohyun returned his stare with a grim look of his own. “Of course, this could be a pure coincidence and I’m just making a big deal out of nothing, but my gut feeling’s telling me otherwise. There’s a reason why the killer chose mockingbirds as his symbol. And now we find that Lee Seonwoong had his own copycat bird in his closet- literally. But… Let’s see what’s in this box before we jump to conclusions.”

Feeling an odd combination of anticipation and nerves, Woohyun pulled the flaps apart. The usual dust cloud rose in front of them and floated around. When the air finally cleared up, the agents wasted no time in peering inside of the box.

“It looks like the other ones we went through,” Chanyeol said after a moment. He sounded disappointed, although Woohyun couldn’t blame him. He had also been expecting something different and more exciting. “All that’s here is a pile of folders and notebooks. There isn’t even any equipment.”

The dark-haired man blew his bangs out of his face. “Pick up a notebook and start reading.” Chanyeol appeared surprised that he was directing him, and not complaining as usual. That was what Woohyun would have normally done, but in this situation, he was too riled up to. There was something here, he just knew it. The Mockingbird Killer, a picture of a mimus polyglottos  on Seonwoong’s box… It couldn’t be a coincidence that the victim’s work had the same label as his killer. Whatever the link connecting the two was, Woohyun was determined to find it.

He picked up a folder himself and began rifling through it. “Look for anything that seems out of place from the research. A name, maybe, or an address that’s scribbled in the margins. And keep an eye out for information about these birds. I have no idea what this business is all about, but whatever it is, it can’t be good.”

Woohyun scanned the papers with an eagle eye, hoping to hit the jackpot. But like when he had opened the box, he was greeted with feelings on disappointment and frustration. All that was in this folder were notes about molecular composition. Not exactly the “here’s-the-killer” clue he wanted.

Chanyeol had finished reading through his notebook. Shaking his head, he placed it aside and reached inside of the carton again. “I don’t think we’re going to find anything, Woohyun. It looks like this is from a research project Seonwoong did. I can only see papers about biology, chemistry, or whatever scientific discipline it was.”

“Maybe.” Woohyun was unconvinced. “I still want to bring this back to HQ with us. And I’m going to ask Youngjae what he thinks, too. There’s too big of a correlation to ignore this, if you ask me. Mockingbirds… Mockingbirds.. Why the hell is it mockingbirds-“

 At that moment, Woohyun’s phone chose to go off. The shrill noise startled him, causing the man to cut his speech short. He raised his brow at Chanyeol and pulled the device out of his pocket. From the flashing LED screen, he saw it was Sungjong calling him. What in the world could that brat want? Sungjong was an agent who rarely called others, let alone Woohyun, during work hours.

Woohyun brought the phone up to his ear. “What is it? I’m in the middle of something here.”

“Hello to you, too,” was Sungjong’s snarky reply, although it didn’t sound like his heart was in it. In fact, he appeared to be more stressed out than usual. Woohyun frowned. That wasn’t like Sungjong to show his worries. Looking tense and harassed from work was more of Myungsoo’s speed. “Listen, I’ll make this fast. There’s only one thing I need to tell you, and then I can leave you to finish whatever you’re doing.

“If you need back-up later,” he carried on, not giving his friend a chance to reply, “Call me instead of Kris. Okay? Sunggyu told me ten minutes ago where you guys are.”

“Okay.” Woohyun was puzzled. “Wait, didn’t you say you were helping Chen today? You’re questioning suspects, right?”

“We finished that half an hour ago. I’m on a short lunch break now.”

“Huh. Gotcha.” Still frowning, Woohyun glanced briefly at his partner. Chanyeol, after hearing it was Sungjong on the line, had resumed skimming through the contents of the box. “Hey, Sungjong. One last question before I hang up. I’m curious- why did Sunggyu tell you to come instead? Is Kris still not done with his business yet?”

“Not exactly,” Sungjong responded. His voice grew quieter and more sombre, giving Woohyun a bad feeling about whatever he was going to say. “You know how he and Hoya went out this morning to investigate, right? Well, they got a lot more than they’d bargained for. I’m pretty sure Hoya’s alright. He didn’t sound hurt when he called us. But Kris…” He paused for a minute, as if he was deciding how to best proceed with his next words.

“There was an accident. Kris is at the hospital now. He... He's been shot.”

[A/N]  This chapter was mostly to get some Woogyu love out and to add more mystery to the case. What's a mockingbird picture doing on Seonwoong's research? Is it connected to the killer in any way? Or has Woohyun finally become paranoid? Oh, questions, questions~

The ending seems rushed so I'll probably change it later. Actually, the whole chapter seems rushed, but that's because I was writing this in between doing homework. I might change it when I'm not so tired, but for now... Thanks for reading, guys! Your love keeps me going /hearteuuuu