Ji Yoon remained silent while she waited for Mir to walk towards her. Even when he enveloped her into a tight hug and crushed her under his weight, she still didn’t utter a single word. She didn’t really hug him back just as firmly but her arms were still wrapped around him comfortingly; his back lovingly. Although her anger towards him hadn’t really cooled down, Ji Yoon knew Mir needed all the encouragement and comfort he could get now. Being the closest to Thunder, he must be feeling really lost right at the moment.

“I should’ve helped him,” he whispered hoarsely into her left ear while resting his chin on top of her shoulder. He wasn’t exactly bawling his eyes out, but Ji Yoon could feel his hot tears drenching her thin white blouse. “I should’ve been there for him…”

Ji Yoon was running out of consoling words to say but she mustered up her courage to stay strong for him, and also herself. Thunder was a dear friend to all of them. His loss weighed down on all of their shoulders heavily. Despite being the strongest one among them, Ji Yoon could feel her own tears were threatening to spill out when she was standing there in Mir’s arms. It seemed like reality had finally struck to her, hard. And there was nothing that she could do to change it.

“It wasn’t your fault,” she managed through a cracked voice. “Nobody is to be blamed. You didn’t know anything.”

Mir stood rigidly silent for awhile. Ji Yoon was starting to think that perhaps he had already dozed off when he finally spoke up again.

“He didn’t tell me anything Ji Yoonie,” he said softly, tightening his grip around her waist. “I had absolutely no idea what exactly happened. You…you don’t blame me, do you?”

Ji Yoon could feel the air practically being out of her. She had just started to doubt her boyfriend back in the waiting room; thinking that perhaps Mir might know more than she did. Something that he was hiding from her. But now as she listened to his regrets being confessed in the sincerest manner ever, Ji Yoon couldn’t help her tender heart from feeling sorry for him. His defeated voice was heart-breaking to her ears. There was no way she could put on her detective-mode and question him for now.

“No…” she finally answered, her voice so low that it was almost inaudible to her own ears. “I would never do that.”

“You can’t possibly be serious!” the cropped-haired girl stared at Ji Yoon incredulously. “You’re not actually suspecting them of murdering Park Sang Hyun.”

Ji Yoon sighed exasperatedly as she crossed her arms in front of her chest impatiently. She was anticipating this moment, where Eun Jung would totally disagree with her hunch. They had been having complications in their team-work ever since they were assigned to be partners, but Ji Yoon knew she had crossed over the line this time. She could practically see the steam coming out of Eun Jung’s ears, trying to keep her anger under control.

Ji Yoon threw a casual glance around the office’s surrounding and noticed that a few of their colleagues were pretending to be busy with their work, but Ji Yoon could’ve sworn their ears were perking up – tuning into their conversation.

“I haven’t exactly suspected them of anything yet Eun Jung,” Ji Yoon said tiredly and hoisted herself up on the edge of the table. “I’m just saying, maybe we should pay them a visit and have a little chat.”

“I know you Ji Yoon. I know where you are going with this,” Eun Jung said knowingly. “Once you’ve set your mind or something, it’s going to be hard to change your opinion. You’d hunt them down incessantly.”

Ji Yoon took some papers from her table and calmly flipped through the pages as Eun Jung watched her carefully. She skimmed through the words as though trying to rethink her decision.

Just as Eun Jung thought that perhaps Ji Yoon would soften just this one time, the latter looked up from the papers she was holding and gave her a wry smile.

“So…where do the Beast guys normally hang out nowadays?”

Doo Joon, who was busy fixing up a motorcycle, definitely doesn’t appreciate it if his girlfriend came by his workshop and see him in oil-stained clothes. He’d appear all dirty and sloppy beside her usual poised self and it would just make him feel even more awkward to be dating a police detective.

So when he heard footsteps approaching his relatively small workshop and saw the familiar pair of black heels, Doo Joon immediately slides out from underneath the motorcycle he was working on and stood up abruptly. He started to straighten down his work clothes and adjusted his messy hair which was sticking out of place.

But his smile faltered when he saw Eun Jung hadn’t come alone. In fact, he could feel his irritation creeping up back to him when he saw the other woman who was walking a few steps behind Eun Jung.

DetectiveJi Yoon. Wow, this is going to be fun.

“Are you alone here?” Ji Yoon asked when the three of them had settled down in Doo Joon’s small office which was situated at the far corner of the workshop. Her eyes wandered around the cosy room apprehensively; trying to see if she could find anything suspicious.

“Did you see anyone else when you came here?” Doo Joon shot back sarcastically as he slumped in his seat opposite of Ji Yoon. Eun Jung who was seated next to his left placed a comforting hand on his thigh and indicated with her eyes to just cooperate with the other detective. Doo Joon hesitated for a moment before he decided that it’d be better to listen to Eun Jung.

“The rest are on a break actually,” he tried again, this time in a slightly friendlier tone. “Is there anything that I could help you with?”

“I’m interested in your boys,” Ji Yoon replied nonchalantly, turning back in her seat to face him once again. “I’d love to have a talk with them. One-to-one I meant.”

“The guys wouldn’t be interested in getting themselves involved with an arrogant police detective like you,” Doo Joon started to joke but then he saw the noticeable flash in Ji Yoon’s eyes and he gulped. “Well, you’ll just scare them off.”

“I just want to have a talk,” she repeated in a more authorised voice. “Do they have any reason to avoid me?”

Doo Joon scratched the back of his head innocently. He was about to come up with another clever comeback but then he caught Eun Jung staring at him pleadingly from the corner of his eye. He then realised that by dragging him into the case, it had already caused a barrier between Ji Yoon’s and Eun Jung’s strained partnership. The least he could do was not to put anymore burden on her shoulders.

“They don’t…” Doo Joon started but then suddenly stopped when he heard a loud crash coming from outside the office.

Ji Yoon and Eun Jung must’ve heard it too because both of them reached down for their holsters; their police instincts already kicking in.

Doo Joon prayed hard that none of the guys had done anything stupid. Judging from the way the conversation was going, he was almost certain that Ji Yoon would not hesitate to use her gun on anyone of them if she had to.

“Oh damn!” Jun Hyung cussed under his breath when his elbow accidentally knocked over a toolbox which was placed on the bench. He had wanted to escape to the other safe room at the back of the workshop quietly when he saw a sleek black sports car parked outside the garage. No doubt they were having some company and Jun Hyung could almost smell the cops scent lingering around.

It wasn’t like he had done anything against the law recently. It was just that Jun Hyung has had many close calls with the authority for the past few months that he really didn’t want to bump into any one of them anymore. They were really troublesome.

Just as he was about to turn around and hoped that nobody had heard the loud distinctive noise, the door to the office flew open hastily and two cop ladies stride out domineeringly.

“Hands up where I can see them!” the one with a slightly longer brown hair shouted over to him. “And don’t move!”

Jun Hyung did as he was told and gazed at the two of them wearily as they hurried over towards him. Jun Hyung immediately recognises the other one. Eun Jung was no stranger to them.

But the other one, who had asked him to raise up his hands; Jun Hyung knows he had seen her around somewhere. As he racked his brain furiously, the two detectives had already caught up with him and Eun Jung was examining him from head to toe; patting every possible part of his body. When she nodded the clear sign to her partner, Jun Hyung was then allowed to lower down his hands.

“What were you doing?” the familiar looking girl questioned him. “And where were you from?”

“I knocked over something there,” he motioned towards the nearest bench. “And I was from lunch break, along with some of my friends.”

“Friends?” she frowned, peering over his shoulder. “I don’t see anyone else here.”

“They are right behind me,” he replied lazily. “They’ll appear soon.”

And true enough, a few seconds later, more footsteps could be heard and four other gangly guys appeared at the site. All of them were laughing and talking happily but the noises immediately came to a halt when they saw that they had other company in their presence.

“Well…this is going to be fun,” she said sarcastically.

Ji Yoon was down to the last guy and she’s far from satisfied. None of them could offer her anything new. All that they were capable of doing was shrugging their shoulders and saying “I don’t know” repeatedly. Ji Yoon was ready to have it out with the last one if he doesn’t give her anything useful.

She could’ve split the interrogating with Eun Jung but she’s trusting her partner the least for this case. Eun Jung knows them personally and Ji Yoon was sure that she wouldn’t hesitate to help them out. And Ji Yoon couldn’t risk screwing anything up. Aside from doing a good job, she owed Sang Hyun. And also, her grieving best friend. Ga Yoon was still in an unstable condition and it was really worrying Ji Yoon.

“Lee Gi Kwang,” Ji Yoon started, inspecting the guy who’s sitting in front of her, from head to toe. “I remember you.”

“Really?” the confident guy broke into a smile. “Did I leave such a good impression on you, that you couldn’t forget about me?”

“Huh,” Ji Yoon smirked. “I don’t remember you for any good reasons Mr Lee…”

“Please, just call me Gi Kwang,” he interrupted her.

“Alright, Gi Kwang,” Ji Yoon rolled her eyes. “So, can you tell me anything about Park Sang Hyun?”

The ingenious guy scrunched up his nose and turned his full lips into a perfect pout. He pretended to think for a moment before shrugging casually.

“What else is there for me to tell you? I’m sure my other friends have told you what they know.”

“Well, that is it Gi Kwang,” Ji Yoon leaned forward in her seat and purposely drop her voice to a stage whisper. “I’m asking you because I want to know what you know.”

Not intimidated, Gi Kwang did the same and both of their faces were now only inches away from each other.

“Detective Ji Yoon…I’ve done nothing wrong.”

Ji Yoon levelled him with a glare which didn’t exactly rattled Gi Kwang. Instead, he just chuckled softly and leaned back against his seat.

“Well, I can tell you something. I don’t really like those boys. MBLAQ?” he scoffed. “What kind of name is that?”

“So you do have a reason not to like them?” Ji Yoon asked him curiously.

“Now, don’t get me wrong Ji Yoon,” Gi Kwang started smiling again as he sat up straighter and crossed his arms neatly on the table. “Not liking and killing are two different things.”

“Cut the talking and straight to the point. Damn it Gi Kwang,” Ji Yoon muttered under her breath as she continued to gaze at him. “Did you or did you not kill him?”

Gi Kwang’s smile widened into a teasing grin and unexpectedly, he leaned in closer until his lips grazed Ji Yoon’s left ear. Uneasily, Ji Yoon reached down for her gun.

“Easy there Ji Yoonie,” he whispered soothingly into her ear. Ji Yoon immediately froze. Nobody else has ever called her that except for Mir. No one. And weirdly, it was giving her some sort of tingling sensation. “I’ll let you in on something.”

“What?” she asked back softly, as though she was in a trance. She felt herself almost, weakening.

Ji Yoon couldn’t see his face but she knew that Gi Kwang was smiling pleasingly as he murmured the next few words quietly; only loud enough for her hearing.

“We aren’t the only bad guys out there.”