“Coffee?” Min Ah said with a smile as she handed Myungsoo the cup.

“I tried calling you last night. Your cellphone kept sending me to voicemail” He said as he took a long drink and watched her carefully over the rim of the cup.

“My cellphone is broken so I’m going to get a new one today. Dongwoo couldn’t help but brag to me about what a great job you guys did though so I think I’ve got a pretty good idea about what’s going on” She said, “How long have you guys been interrogating them?”

“It’s been 9 hours that they’ve been in there. So far we’ve got no admissions of guilt, no more than what we found out when we did our raid”

She looked at him, hair disheveled and frown on his face and sighed knowing that he hadn’t left since the arrests had been made.

“Let me have a try maybe I can get something out of them” She said, placing her own cup down and tying her hair up. She went for the door when Myungsoo grabbed her by the arm.

“You’re off the EXO case Min Ah”

Time stopped for a moment as she stared at him in surprise. Not quite believing what she was hearing. Instantly, the calmness that she had shattered and she felt her insides churn painfully. Her heart raced and she wondered…. did he know? It took her a second longer than she would’ve liked to collect herself.

“Why?” She asked, demanding an answer.

“I’m splitting up the taskforce. I want you to take Hoya and Dongwoo and work on the Min Guk case. The rest of us will work on the EXO case. We’re focusing too much of our efforts on this case when we’re actually moving along at a rapid rate. I’m putting you in charge of the Min Guk case so we don’t lose the lead we have on that either” He explained calmly as he took another drink of his coffee and waited for her reaction.

“Did I do something wrong?” She asked.

“Not at all. Why would you think so?” Myungsoo said as he grabbed her hand affectionately, “If anything you’re the only person who I trust to not do anything wrong”

She awkwardly took her hand back and took a step back.

“Ok I’ll work on the Min Guk case then” Min Ah said keeping her face blank.

“Thanks for understanding” He gave her as he turned to head back to the interrogation rooms.

“Can I ask you a question?” She called out from behind him, ignoring the feeling that she was treading a fine line.

“What is it?”

“How did you know where to go find them? I heard that you got there right on time. Either you’re the luckiest man on earth…”

“Or what?”

“I don’t know, you’d tell me if you had anything else right?”

“I’m just a lucky man who got a tip from the guys they were selling to” He said with a smile that didn’t feel quite so genuine to her, “Now bring me some developments with the Min Guk case before I put Hoya in charge”

“Right. You got it”

She watched him and waited until he was completely gone from her sight before she felt like she could relax. Last night had been her last mistake. By now both Jong In and Wu Fan were gone and all Tao had to do was wrap things up here and they would all disappear. She wouldn’t see them again and this case would turn cold and eventually be pushed aside by more important criminals. She glanced back to where Myungsoo stood and replayed his words on trusting her. Very soon his trust wouldn’t be misplaced. It would be alright to trust her because she would have nothing to hide as soon as they were gone. She wrung her fingers and tried to ignore the terrible feeling she had. It was all so close to being over.

As soon as they were gone she was going to try to move on and she was going to try to go back to before she had found Wu Fan. Even as she told herself this, it sounded like petty excuses to excuse the present.

~~~~~~

After a quick meet up with Hoya and Dongwoo, Min Ah had decided that it wouldn’t hurt to pay Min Guk’s ex-wife another visit. This time by herself. So right after buying herself a new phone, she drove over the small house. She pulled up slowly and walked up to the door trying to figure out what to say. At the very least it helped to not have Myungsoo beside her ready to glare holes into the poor woman Min Ah decided as she knocked on the door. She waited a few moments before knocking another time. She sighed as she took a step back and looked around in time to catch the faintest movement by the window.

“I’m only here to talk” She said loudly as she waited by the door, “I’m by myself this time… I thought you might like to know about your son”

A few more moments passed before she finally heard a shuffle behind the door. There was a loud click of a lock snapping out of place and the door opened slightly. The woman behind the door was the same and yet there was something empty about her as she opened the door only slightly more giving Min Ah just enough space to slip past. Gone was the woman who had the calm and meek demeanor from the first time. In her place was a nervous woman with sunken eyes and a sullen face. Min Ah didn’t miss the slight tremble in her hands as she locked the door behind her and finally turned to face her.

“You sh-shouldn’t have come back” The woman said in the quietest of tones.

“Has anything happened?” Min Ah asked worriedly, something was wrong.

She shook her head, “He found me” She whispered as she met her eyes

“Have you seen him? Have you been threatened?” Min Ah asked calmly, stepping up to the windows and taking a swift peek outside, “Are you hurt at all?”

“No, I haven’t seen anything, but I know he found me. You don’t understand… this is why I didn’t call… I knew you wouldn’t understand! I just know. I know him better than anyone else I’ve always known him down to the evil inside of him. He found me! I’ve been coming home and little things inside my house are off. Just by a few centimeters but they’re off!” She said, her voice rising slightly with panic.

“Maybe you’re psyching yourself out. The mind—“

“It’s not my mind! I knew you wouldn’t believe me! What am I going to do?!” She whispered in a panic to herself, picking at the ends of her nails as she turned around impatiently, waiting for something to happen.

“Come with me right now. I can hide you away” Min Ah whispered.

“In exchange for what?” The woman asked sharply, her intelligence showing through despite her panic.

“In exchange for an official statement on everything you know about Park Min Guk and the possibility for you to be a witness against him” Min Ah answered truthfully.

“No. You might as well let me die now” She cried out.

“You very well might if he really did find you. Do you think he’d let someone that you yourself said knew everything about him live?”

“If he knew you were here… Oh god, what if he thinks I’m cooperating with you?! Oh god oh god!”

“I’m going to write my phone number for you and an address you can find me at” Min Ah said catching the woman’s eyes as she took out a small notepad and wrote an entirely different message on it, “If you change your mind call alright?” She said putting the piece of paper into her hand and staring straight into her eyes.

“I won’t call” She said a glimmer of understanding sparking in her eyes as she glanced down at the paper.

“It’s just in case. I’ll leave now, but I would recommend relaxing. I don’t think there’s any way that man would’ve found you now of all times when you’ve stayed hidden this long. Please don’t let paranoia ruin you, but if you’re sure just give me a call” Min Ah said before stepping out of the house.

The lock turned from the other side of the door and Min Ah turned back to give the house a once over. She headed to her car when she got sudden goose bumps. She paused and looked around before spotting a dark blue car down the road. The car had tinted windows and was turned off and yet as she walked to her own car she couldn’t help the trickle of paranoia coming from herself so she locked her doors as soon as she had slipped in. She the car and made sure to be out of view before she pulled out her phone and dialed Dongwoo’s number.

“Hello?”

“Park Min Guk’s wife is convinced he had found her and I’m beginning to think that she might be right. I think she’s getting ready to run. Meet me in an hour at the back of the grocery store two blocks from her address. Have Hoya file the protection paperwork necessary. I want to keep her hidden until time comes for her to testify. She’ll agree to the statement and being a witness” Min Ah said confidently.

“I’ll be there”

“Good and keep this quiet for now” Min Ah said casually before hanging up. She glanced at the rearview mirror and came to the conclusion that the timing was too perfect. Her first visit and suddenly being found by Park Min Guk? It was too close to be merely a coincidence.

~~~~~~

“Honestly, I’m so curious about that case I’m disappointed we’re not on it you know?” She asked as she followed Hoya down the hall.

“Well it’s pretty clear what’s happening to be honest. They’re at a dead end right? Those guys don’t seem to be talking so they’re going to get minor counts of theft or dealing something stupid and they’ll be out before we know it. It makes sense for him to move us to focus on this case. I don’t see how they’re going to catch another break. We were lucky enough to catch three”

“Did you get any names?”

“Sure, Luhan, Baekhyun, and Jongdae. All equally annoying with their silence except for one though. I think Myungsoo thinks he can break him since he’s been leaning especially hard on him” Hoya said after thinking it through a moment.

“But we’ve got enough to worry about” He said as he opened the door for her before Min Ah had the chance to ask any more questions.

Min Ah walked into the small, but spacious conference room that they had been allowed to commandeer especially for this case. She placed her backpack on the side of the table and slowly sat down amongst the stack of case files. The huge stacks loomed over the three of them as she sighed tiredly and rubbed her temples.

“Is this all of it?” She asked Hoya. He gave a small chuckle as he kicked a heavy cardboard box filled to the brim with more papers.

“This guy’s been busy… there’s dozens of girls and related crimes. All different methods and ways, nothing to connect them aside from a faint pattern. The girls we think they were involved with… their murders were almost frantic. Just terrifyingly brutal. We’ve sorted out those too tame to be caused by that bastard’s son and we still have these” He said motioning to three different piles on the end of the table, “Still we need some way to weed these down. There’s too much here”

“We’ll start with those three piles. Our pattern isn’t much of a pattern. We need something more to go off on. We need a murder we know for sure he committed” Min Ah said as she reached for the first file.

“Why?”

“It would be like a sample. Something we’re sure was done by them that we can compare everything else too. Somewhere here there’s a concrete pattern. We just need to find it” Min Ah explained, “Then if we can link them to victims we can move forward and press official charges” She said with a bright smile.

The night moved slowly as they combed through endless details of crime scenes that made them all queasy in the beginning until eventually the blood gore became all too common to sort through. It was difficult though, to try to find something when they had no idea what they were actually looking for. There was no clear marker, no big symbols carved into their bodies. If there was even a link then it was well hidden. This was the easiest thing to start with though. The women that had been murdered must’ve been related in some way. If they can find what it may clear up a lot more than just the son’s wrongdoings.

It was nearing their proposed time limit until they were going to head out when Min Ah paused. She stared mystified at a particular case file as she tried to coax the answer from deep within her mind. She kept staring, transfixed on the gory details like the torn out patches of hair and the deep cuts, until the nearly mangled face made a connection. She took a sharp breath and stood up.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I need a break” She lied, “It is late. I think we all need break. I’ve seen more senseless murder than one should have to in their lifetime. Don’t you guys agree?”

“That’s true. Then are we allowed to go?” Hoya asked already grabbing his coat.

“Yeah I’m going to tidy up here and make sure to separate the ones we’ve sorted through then go home. You guys go on ahead though” And when noticing their guilty expressions she grinned, “Go before I decided we all need to finish tonight”

“Got it! Bye boss!” Dongwoo yelled grabbing Hoya by the shoulder and dragging him out behind him.

As soon as they stepped through the doorway her grin dissolved into a grimace as she opened the file in her hand. She took note of the long and slender limbs of the girl she had only briefly met and her suspicions were confirmed. This was completely different than the girl that had been murdered as a warning to Wu Fan back in China and yet there was something so eerily similar about them. Either way if there was a pattern to be found it would start with this girl. She noted that the crime had happened in Korea and tried to fit it into a rough timeline. She grabbed the papers and placed them in the copier tray and watched quietly as the machine scanned each paper one by one and put out copies. When it was done she put away the originals and held the copies in her arms as she tried to figure what this meant before she presented this information.

Uncertain she pulled out her phone and dialed the number she had committed to memory.

“Hello?” An unknown voice answered and Min Ah frowned.

“I’m looking for Tao. I thought he told me to call here?” She asked cautiously.

“He’s busy right now” The man replied after slight hesitation.

“I really need to talk to him directly. I need to give something to him” She explained.

“I don’t think that will be possible right now. But I can come pick it up for him”

“No offense, but I don’t know or trust you so I don’t think that will work” She said, “I found out something strange and I just thought it’d be good to talk it over” She said quietly as she gathered her things and put the copies into her bag.

“Can you email them? If they’re documents scan them and send them to his email? I can text the email address to you” Lay said helpfully and this time she hesitated before replying.

“I could, but I really want to talk to him first”

“That most likely won’t be possible for a few days. He’s working on closing up loose ends and trying to erase any traces of us as he goes. He’s trying to stay undercover you could say”

“Tell him to contact me and to check his email then” Min Ah said reluctantly, “Thanks” She barely got in before the line went dead.

Pulling out the papers she stared at them with a frown as she placed them in the scanner and scanned them in. Typing out the email address that was on her phone screen she paused before clicking send. There was something wrong, but she could be paranoid. That seemed to be going around lately she told herself. That guy did have Tao’s phone after all and she refused to think of a worst case scenario. As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t exactly wait too long either she realized. ‘Call me as soon as you can. Do NOT do anything rash’ she typed out in the message box as she attached the scanned document.

Her phone rang and interrupted the internal dialogue she had going on. She answered it quickly and her eyes widened as the voice on the other end spoke quickly.

“I’ll be right there! Don’t move anything important!” She yelled as she clicked send and deleting any traces of the email, she ran out.

~~~~~~

She coughed as she stepped into the charred up home and she had never been more relieved that she had been able to get that woman out and into protection until now. She was the first one on the scene and she carefully moved charred objects aside as she tried to figure out where the fire had begun. Firemen moved around her after having cleared the house free from having any risk of collapsing and she wondered if Min Guk’s henchman had left behind any evidence that they could use. Cautiously she moved through the debris towards the back of the house and wondered where that woman would have burned if she had stayed. She glanced around and made a mental note to ask if there had been any sort of bugs or tapping devices found. If she had been right that day then breaking into this woman’s house wasn’t for nothing. It would make sense to assume there was some sort of surveillance device installed.

If she hadn’t followed the instructions on Min Ah’s note she would be dead and Min Ah would have lost her most important lead.

With a startling realization Min Ah came to a halt. How did Park Min Guk know that they had found his missing wife though? The fire proved beyond a doubt that the woman’s suspicions were true. He couldn’t have found her on his own, he had years to do that and he hadn’t been able to, but when Min Ah finally starts to convince her to talk her, the house is attacked. She scanned the area in front of her carefully, more importantly, the person who had attacked the house didn’t know that Min Ah had already transferred the woman to a safe and hidden location. She frowned because either someone from Wu Fan’s end had leaked it which didn’t make any sense because they wouldn’t work with Mun Guk or it was someone from her end and that didn’t make any sense either.

“Miss Han! We’ve got something out back!” A fireman exclaimed as he burst in.

“I’m coming!” She said, putting her suspicions on the backburner for now. She followed the fireman out towards the back until they reached the kitchen area. It was all completely charred black and the door leading out to the back was busted down.

She only barely felt the crippling thud form the blunt object against the back of her neck before she fell unconscious.

~~~~~~

Myungsoo had waited until everyone had left before he slowly put his stuff away. He grabbed his suitcase and locked his office carefully, delaying the inevitable. He walked out into the hallways and when he stepped into the elevator he pressed the button for the 3^rd floor instead of the base floor where he usually went since it would have lead straight to the parking garage. Instead he waited and stepped off towards the overnight holding cells. The officer in charge gave him a nod of acknowledgement as Myungsoo signed his name under the log without a word and went to the furthest cell towards the right.

He stepped up to the bars and waited until the man inside noticed him.

“I took her off the case. This doesn’t mean I believe you though” He said quietly.

“Then why do it?”

“You said you’d only keep informing if she was off the case. Whatever you think she’s doing I’m here to tell you she’s not. So stop targeting random people in my team to try to make me suspicious. It’s not going to work”