Ding.

Myungsoo stepped through the elevator doors, exhaustion weighing his footsteps down like lead. Dragging himself forwards, he cursed when his foot got caught on the edge- it caused him to stumble and nearly land a face plant on the floor. Luckily, he managed to catch himself in time. And good thing, too, that nobody had been around to see that. He wasn't in the mood to hear juvenile teasings about how clumsy he was getting-

"Woah, careful there- wouldn't want an accident so early in the morning. Are you alright?"

The ravenet didn't need to see to know who it was talking to him. "I'm fine, Chen," he muttered, straightening himself with as much dignity as he could. He turned around and watched as a thin man joined him on the elevator, smoothly sliding in between the closing doors.

Kim Jongdae, or Chen, as everybody liked to call him, reached over to press the button for the eleventh floor. Finger still lingering over the keypad, he looked over at his companion and inclined his head. "Floor?"

"... Same as you."

"Alright, then."

It wasn't until they'd passed the third floor that Chen initiated more conversation. "So, it's been awhile." In an effortless move, he crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall. Chen, with his prominent cheekbones and graceful posture, was often told that he could have made it big time as a model. He'd always laugh, however, and merely state that posing for a camera wasn't nearly as fun as chasing down dangerous criminals. Where was the thrill in putting on make-up and wearing stuffy designer clothing?  "I almost forgot that you were here, Myungsoo. How have you been doing? Judging by those bags under your eyes, I'd say not so good."

Myungsoo didn't have the energy to roll his eyes. Yes, he was tired. Chen had caught him on a rare day when he came to work with little, if any, sleep at all. It wasn't very smart of him, he knew. After all, what kind of CSI agent investigated his cases in a state of lethargy? Not one that wanted to keep his job, that was for sure.

But in his defense, it had partly been due to work that he'd had a rough night. Myungsoo had been glued to his study desk until well after one in the morning, getting his notes and files organized for the case. And when he'd finally decided he'd done enough prepping for the next day, the ravenet had been unable to sleep- he'd only stared up at the ceiling above instead. Because every time he closed his eyes, the image of two mirror-like eyes would float into his head...

The mirror eyes of a certain strange, mysterious newcomer.

The mirror eyes of Lee Sungyeol.

If he had been speaking these thoughts out loud to Chen, Myungsoo would not have hesitated to explain himself. He had  been thinking of Sungyeol last night- he would grudgingly admit to that- but in no way had it been in a romantic sense. The agent had simply been puzzling over the whole mystique of the newcomer. Who was he? Why was he such an odd persona? How did he manage to get under Myungsoo's skin so easily? And the most perplexing of all: What could Lee Sungyeol be thinking  about, behind those eyes that mirrored all but showed nothing beneath? These questions buzzed through Myungsoo's mind like bees until finally, begrudgingly, he gave up on trying to catch some much-needed Z's.

In the end, after hours of restless lying-in-bed, Myungsoo had reached this conclusion: He would be nice and make the effort to get along with Sungyeol. He was new, and Myungsoo knew nothing about him, so it would probably take some time to get used to the guy. And, like Sungjong had said, if Myungsoo was to guide him as his division senior, it wouldn't do so well if they didn't see 'eye-to-eye.'

But there was no way he was telling Chen any of this. So instead, the tired man simply nodded at his friend. "I'm fine. I just didn't get much sleep last night. Sunggyu put me on a new case, and I was up preparing my notes."

"Care to elaborate?"

Myungsoo shrugged. "A girl was found murdered in front of a chapel not too far from here. Nothing too  off from what we've dealt with before." But as he spoke these words, a picture of the slaughtered body flashed before his eyes. He remembered seeing the dried blood, the features unidentifiable through the scars. And the bird. It had been just laying there, a queer little thing in the corpse's hand...

"Ah, is that it?" The elegant man cocked his head to the other side. "How tragic. But if one death isn't enough... This is a cruel world we live in, Myungsoo. Did you know that I'm on a murder case myself?"

"I didn't, actually." At that moment, the elevator dinged once more, signaling the end of their ride. Myungsoo waited until they had both gotten off the lift before speaking again. "What happened? And don't worry about sparing me the gory details. I think I've gotten used to it all, after all my lovely time here."

Chen gave a dry chuckle. "Are you sure? We call it 'The Backyard Strawberry Case', my partners and I. While the name sounds delicate, I can assure you that it's anything but." He turned the corner and began walking down another hallway. Myungsoo's destination was also this way, so he was fine with that. Besides, he kind of wanted to hear about his friend's investigation.

"A few days ago," Chen continued, footsteps making a sharp clacking sound on the floor, "An elderly man was found dead in his backyard. His name was Lee Seonwoong, who was a 'perfectly sweet, respectable, and pleasant dear.'" He made quoting motions with his fingers. "Though I'll have to say, finding him with his skull cracked open and his brain matter missing is not something I'd call pleasant."

"Ouch," Myungsoo sympathized. "I feel more bad for forensics, though. At least you don't have to search through that mess. But where do the strawberries come in? You called it 'The Backyard Strawberry Case', didn't you?"

"Oh, right." Chen grimaced slightly. "That was Chanyeol's idea. The victim had strawberry plants growing in his backyard. Apparently, on the night of his death, he had been picking a basket full for his neighbour. We found it a few feet away from his body, with the strawberries scattered everywhere."

Myungsoo pushed open a door and stepped through it, then held it open for Chen. "I see. That's where the 'Backyard Strawberry' part comes in... Interesting name."

"If by 'interesting' you mean cheesy  and too-embarrassing-to-even-say, then yes, it's interesting."

They walked for a few more seconds before Myungsoo began to speak again. "Hey, don't you find this a little weird? I mean, there are so many investigations going on right now; I can't remember when was the last time we had this many. There's mine about the church girl. There's your case about the man and his strawberries. And then Hoya has his own murder investigation, too. Don't you think it's strange?"

Chen shrugged. "We're CSI agents. Dealing with crime and murders is our job, remember?" By this time, they had neared the doors of Floor Eleven's conference room. A few other agents were milling about, probably waiting for their meeting to start. "But I'll tell you what's strange, Myungsoo. Yesterday, when I was getting ready to leave, Amber dropped off the autopsical report for my case." 

He paused, as if trying to gather and organize the thoughts running through his head. "As you know, it's standard procedure to search through victims' clothing before beginning with the actual autopsy. I was reading through that part when I found something that automatically jumped out at me. And it's this: Do you know what they found in his jacket pocket?  Covered in blood, what they pulled out was a tiny, almost fragile, little b-"

"Hey, Chen!" A voice called out. Myungsoo jumped a little. He had been so engrossed in Chen's story that he'd nearly forgotten about the other people around. Turning his head, he saw an agent motion impatiently to his companion. "Took you long enough to get here. Come on, the meeting's about to start. You know Sunggyu doesn't take to latecomers lightly."

"Coming," Chen answered back. He began striding forward, but not before sending Myungsoo a nod of farewell. "I guess I'll tell you about it later. Oh, and next time you see me, make sure to bring Woohyun with you. That guy still owes me a dinner."

"Only if he pays for me, too." Myungsoo watched as he disappeared inside the conference room. There was a thought nagging at him in the back of his head- what had Chen been about to say? He decided to brush it off, however, and started walking to where his office was. It wasn't really relevant to him, what the autopsy report had noted. Myungsoo had enough worrying to do about his own case.

---------

Myungsoo staggered into his office. After departing from Chen, a sudden wave of exhaustion had washed over him, leaving him feeling tired and longing for his bed. It was all he could do to keep from falling asleep right on the floor. Hmm... That didn't sound so bad. And seeing as there were barely any people around...

"Ahaha, really? Wow, I never would have thought of that!"

Myungsoo's ears perked up at the sound of this familiar voice. He raised his head and looked around for the source of the noise. When he found it, he nodded to himself in affirmation. It was Sungjong, sitting at his cubicle and talking to someone he couldn't quite see from where he was standing.

"Oh, good morning!" Sungjong greeted when he saw Myungsoo walking over. "You're late, you know. We've been waiting for ten minutes. What happened to the stickler for punctuality that I used to know?" He flashed a teasing smile.

The dark-haired man gave a tired shrug. "Sorry, I overslept. And I was talking with Chen on my way here. But I'm not that  late. At least you had-" he looked over at the person whom Sungjong had been speaking to- "... Sungyeol?"

The newcomer, as usual, had an indifferent expression on his face. "That's my name. Don't wear it out."

Myungsoo tried to keep from rolling his eyes. He reminded himself that he was to be nice to Sungyeol from now on. Besides, as he'd been with Chen, he didn't even have the energy to appear annoyed. Muttering a hello, Myungsoo turned to his seated friend, who was now drinking coffee out of his mug. "You seem better. Are you well enough to be out today?"

Sungjong nodded and set down his drink. "Yeah, I'm fine. I was- I mean, it was only a little cold. Nothing too bad." Grinning, he stood up from his chair and stretched his arms out.

"While we were waiting, Sungyeol and I started talking about stuff. I asked him how the Academy was, and told him about things at headquarters. He has so many interesting stories, you know. You should listen to them sometime. Oh! And his lattes! Sungyeol makes really good lattes." Sungjong picked up his cup and drained the last mouthful, as if to prove his point. "Way  better than the crap Woohyun makes. I think I drank about three cups already."

"Why'd you make so much?" Myungsoo slid his eyes over to the impassive Sungyeol. He stared back for a moment, then picked up a fresh cup of coffee off Sungjong's desk.

"If I remember correctly," he handed the drink over to Myungsoo, who automatically reached out for it, "There's a certain agent who can never function properly in the mornings without it. And seeing as we're on duty all day today, I'd say it's better for that agent to be in a functioning state." There was a slight smirk playing at his lips, and a mocking undertone could be heard in his voice. But there, too, was something unidentifiable in his eyes. What was it?  It almost drove Myungsoo crazy, trying to figure out what he was really thinking.

He decided to drink his latte instead.

Sungjong waited until Myungsoo was done with his drink before piping up again. "So, should we get going? I know everything's been cleared up from the crime scene, but let's head over to the church area. I want to see the spot where she was found, and maybe the minister can tell us some stuff."

As the trio began readying for their leave, Sungjong leaned in close to Myungsoo's ear. "I don't see why you dislike him so much," he whispered. "He seems nice enough to me."

Myungsoo grumbled quietly. "Just wait, you'll see what I mean soon enough. But if it makes you feel any better, I'm trying to get along with him." It would be hard, Myungsoo knew. Already he was itching to be sarcastic, ready to give a biting response that was waiting on the tip of his tongue. The ravenet tried to think happy thoughts instead. He set his empty cup down on the desk.

"He makes good lattes, I'll give you that."

-----------

"He was such a kind and gentle man."

Zelo squirmed as the woman in front of him sniffled, then blew her nose into a tissue. Hoya murmured words of sympathy and offered her the box of Kleenex. It was almost empty by now. Taking one with a trembling hand, the woman continued speaking in the same shaky voice as she had been for the past half hour.

"He was a busy man, always caught up with his work. But not once did he let that come between us. He always made time for the family, and I can't imagine anyone who would have been a better father..." She choked up slightly and blew her nose into the crumpled tissue.

Still feeling uncomfortable, Zelo listened to the woman reminisce sadly about her husband. Her name was Son Subin, wife of the late Son Taehyun (who, in turn, was the man whose murder Hoya was investigating). As she was one of the people who knew Taehyun the best, she should have been interviewed earlier on. However, she had been so distraught upon news of her husband's death that she'd only agreed this morning to meet with them.

Thus, Hoya had set off, taking along a confused and clueless Choi Junhong. He'd explained that the agents who were working with him were too busy with other case details to help. Sure, he could have handled this interview alone, but Sunggyu had specifically asked that he take Zelo. The blonde man was still quite young and rarely went out on cases, so this would be a good experience for him.

Hoya waited until the teary woman seemed composed enough to carry on the conversation. "Allow me to summarize the information you've given to this point, ma'am. Son Taehyun, whom you've been married to for thirty-two years, was aged sixty-one. He worked as a chemist-"

"Yes, for that apothecary shop a few blocks away. My... My husband was incredibly dedicated to working there. He never saw it as a job; it was like a passion for him."

"- and that had been his profession for the last two decades." Hoya consulted his notes. "You say that there is no one who would have considered him an enemy or rival? No one who openly wished him ill?"

"No... No, there isn't anyone I can think of who'd want to do that."

The CSI man nodded. "Now I'll move onto other details. On the day of his death, he had been staying at home. As you claim you were out visiting your parents, there was no one else in the house with him."

"Yes, my daughter and I went to visit them for the day. I... I wonder now what would have happened if my husband had come with us. If I had tried harder to persuade him, this would have never happened. Taehyun... Oh, Taehyun..." Just like that, Son Subin began to tear up once more.

Zelo shifted in his seat again. He eyed the crying woman, wondering what he should- or even could- do to ease her grief. After a moment, he decided to just leave it to Hoya. See, this was why he was in the weaponry unit. He was talented at dealing with guns, not people. Guns were good. Guns didn't make him feel out of place; they didn't cry or collapse into a puddle of tears at emotional upheaval. All they did was hit whatever Zelo aimed at and make loud banging noises.

Putting his notes away, Hoya handed the tissue box to the sobbing female one last time. "Thank you, ma'am, that's all I wanted to know. We'll get in touch with you if we have any other questions." He stood up and gestured for the silent but wide-eyed Zelo to do the same.

It was only when they were about to step out of the room that Zelo finally spoke.

"I'm sorry for your loss," he told the older woman awkwardly, then hurried out of the room to where Hoya was waiting for him.