0400. 12/14/2012. Apartment 4B, Seoul.

Taemin tossed and turned in his sleep, he was trapped in a dream, no, a nightmare. His sheets were tangled around his legs and wrapped around his waist, constricting him, choking him, strangling him.

He had to run, faster before it caught him. He was running in a forest barefooted, body scratched and bleeding. It was cold and it was… snowing? The landscape around Taemin shifted as he now felt the cold wind biting at his cheeks.

“Come and dream a dream…” An eerie voice called to him as he ran, never looking back. Suddenly, the scenery around him morphed again as he was now trapped in a room full of mirrors.

Big mirrors and small mirrors, he saw them circling around him as he caught his reflection in one of them. He was perfect; there were no scars on his body, no cuts, no bleeding. He looked down at his hands and saw them covered with blood. He looks back into the mirror and he saw nothing.

“Come and dream a dream…” The eerie voice called again and the sound echoed in Taemin’s head as he spun around looking for the source of the sound.

“Who’s there?” He called out into the distance as everything darkened around him.

“I’m right here.” The voice replied and Taemin spun around to find himself face to face with his reflection mocking him. The reflection was talking to him. Taemin opened his mouth to scream and the reflection jumped out of the mirror, covering his mouth with his hand.

“Shh, don’t wake the baby.” His reflection said to him and Taemin found himself standing in a nursery with a little baby sleeping in an eggshell white cradle. A woman with soft black hair walked in and picked up the baby rocking it back and forth.

“Mom?” Taemin asked looking at the figure who was now sitting in the rocking chair, smiling gently at little Taemin.

“Shoot me.” His mother said looking him straight in eye as she smiled serenely. Taemin found himself holding a gun. He dropped it in shock.

“I can’t!” Taemin protested and his mother shook her head as she picked up the gun and put it in Taemin’s hand. She took Taemin’s hand, put it up to her temple and pulled the trigger.

“No!” Taemin screamed as he watched his mother crumple before his eyes. Taemin looked in the mirror and saw his reflection. He wasn’t Taemin anymore; he now had the reflection of Jinon.

“You like what you see?” Jinon asked as he stepped out of the mirror. Taemin found that he couldn’t move, as if he had been turned into stone.

“Honey?” Another female voice called from the hallway and Taemin turned to look in shock as a beautiful woman called him from the hallway with a baby in her arms.

“I’m coming.” Jinon called back, morphing into Taemin’s image again as he walked towards the woman. He planted a kiss on her cheek and she smiled up at him happily.

“Taemin, our daughter has been waiting forever, what took you so long?” She asked Jinon. Taemin watched on, frozen in his spot.

“Give her to me.” Jinon said, taking the dream baby from Taemin’s dream wife. He pulled out a knife and Taemin’s wife smiled as Jinon slit the baby’s throat. Taemin looked on in horror.

“Why?” Taemin asked as Jinon threw the baby to the ground.

“You were too chicken to fight; now you’ll have to fight the monster you’ve awakened.” Jinon said but none of his words made any sense to Taemin. He pointed a gun at Taemin and pulled the trigger.

Taemin awoke with a start from his dream. His body trembled with fear as he looked around and realized that he’d been having a nightmare. Relax Taemin, you’re still at home. He told himself as he tried to calm himself down. Taemin stood up from his bed and untangled himself from his sheets.

He walked to his bathroom door and locked it. He looked into the mirror and saw his own reflection staring back at him and he breathed a sigh of relief. He was still himself and all those dead people were only part of his nightmare. Taemin stepped into the shower, letting the hot water settle on is body as he attempted to wash his anxiety away. Somehow, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being watched.

0800. 12/14/2012 Seoul NIS Headquarters. Seoul.

“Good morning Taemin.” Onew said to him as he walked into the office early that morning. Taemin smiled weakly at him in response and grabbed the case file from his desk.

“Sleepless night?” Key asked as he observed the dark circles that had settled under Taemin’s eyes. Taemin shook his head. He had slept; he just hadn’t had a very nice dream.

“I see you guys way too much.” Jonghyun complained as he stepped out of the elevator corridor and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

“Hot date?” Minho teased at pointedly indicating Jonghyun’s ruffled appearance and Jonghyun rolled his eyes as he grabbed the cup of Starbucks from the tray and paid Key for the coffee run.

“Quite the contrary actually.” Jonghyun said as he sipped his coffee, wincing when it burned his tongue. “One of the snipers had a vicious breakdown and the department called me in to give him some therapy.” Minho winced at his comment, knowing exactly which sniper it was. Kim Jongin, it had been his first time on the field… and his first time making a hit.

“The first one always haunts you.” Key said, grimacing as he remembered his own experience taking down an unsub. It had always been his preference to incarcerate the suspects, not kill them.

“I’ve never taken down an unsub.” Onew remarked and the rest of SHINee turned to him in shock.

“What do you mean?” Jonghyun asked him, clearly surprised at his revelation.

“I was an analyst; I haven’t actually spent much time as a field agent.” Onew said, shrugging. Jonghyun was surprised at his complacency.

“I haven’t either.” Taemin muttered to himself as he sat down at his desk in his office. The last case he’d investigated with the boys had been his first outing really and after all the drama that happened, Taemin was glad to be back in the confines of his small room.

Taemin glanced at his idle computer monitor and sighs contentedly. Since Key was basically still out of commission, they had a small break before they set out on their next case. It never ceased to amaze the rest of the bureau how quickly they solved their cases and he caught wind that the bureau was going to assign them higher level cases with a chance of working internationally.

For now though, Taemin was content with working on the smaller cases. Taemin leaned back in his chair and noticed his computer screen blinking. Over the course of the last week, his computer had gathered large amounts of information about Yang Jinon, the man that haunted Taemin’s dreams and memories.

Taemin leaned forward, frowning as he opened up the alert and his screen quickly filled up with various news articles about a man supposedly identified as Yang Jinon. Taemin opened up the article and gasped at the findings.

Impossible. He thought to himself as he skimmed through the article. It was about a man who had been shot execution style with apparent ligature marks on his arms and legs. The local PD identified him as Yang Jinon but Taemin knew better.

That wasn’t Yang Jinon, it was his partner. The corner of the image captured Taemin’s attention as he zoomed in on the newspaper article left by the body. It was of the bank robbery so very long ago.

“No.” Taemin whispered to himself as he dug around for more information. This was unexpected. Yang Jinon had been off the grid for over a decade, why was he suddenly on the grid again?

Jonghyun passed by the open door to Taemin’s office and he frowned at the sight of Taemin typing furiously on his computer. Something had been off about Taemin all morning. Jonghyun stepped into his office and approached Taemin’s concentrated figure.

“What are you doing?” Jonghyun asked and Taemin jumped in surprise. He hadn’t heard Jonghyun come in.

“Just… some personal business.” Taemin said vaguely as he went back to typing furiously. Jonghyun frowned again at his strange behavior and he decided to alert the others. Perhaps Onew had a personnel file on Taemin somewhere.

“Hey, have you noticed that Taemin has been acting strangely lately?” Jonghyun asked Minho who shook his head in response.

“It would be strange if he acted normal given that he recently underwent a very traumatic experience.” Minho replied looking up from the paper work he was filling out.

“Fair enough but exhibiting signs of extreme obsession with researching a man named Yang Jinon probably wasn’t triggered by the recent incident.” Jonghyun reasoned and Minho raised an eyebrow. Onew returned with a manila case folder and handed it to Jonghyun.

“Here’s the personnel file you asked for.” Onew said and Jonghyun nodded in thanks. Minho watched curiously as Jonghyun scanned over thin sheet of paper, furrowing his eyebrows.

“That’s strange, there’s nothing here.” Jonghyun said as he slipped the sheet back into the case file and handed it to Onew.

“Well to be fair, the personnel files are fairly poor in assessing emotional backgrounds and emotional health. If it isn’t medically classified, it won’t be listed.” Onew responded and Jonghyun rubbed his head as he processed this information.

“Alright, well, if we want an answer, I guess we’ll have to go straight to the source.” Jonghyun said as he turned around head and collided into Taemin with a smack.

“Ouch.” Taemin said as he bounced, yes literally bounced, off Jonghyun and landed on the floor. He rubbed his wound and looked at Jonghyun accusingly. Jonghyun offered him a hand to which Taemin took gratefully using it as leverage as he stood back up.

“Sorry. I guess that’s physics for you. Every action has an equal reaction.” Jonghyun said as rubbed his neck sheepishly and Minho sighed at Jonghyun’s clumsiness.

“Anyways Taemin, was there something you needed?” Onew asked the anxious looking Taemin. Everyone turned to look at him and Taemin froze.

“I need your help.” He said finally, breaking the tense silence and Key spoke up from his silence.

“What kind of help?” Key asked.

“In finding someone.” Taemin said and led them into the conference room where they sat down.

“Sure, whatever you need. We’re always here for you.” Minho said.

“Off the record.” Taemin said and the four others frowned at him.