~*~

Zelo and Jongup grabbed hold of the scoop at the same time.

“Hey! I held it first!” Zelo yelled.

“So? You’ve already finished 3 cups of ice cream!” Jongup retorted.

“You finished 5!” Zelo fired back.

“That wasn’t me! That was Daehyun hyung!” Jongup spat back.

The two continue to fight over the ice cream scoop as Daehyun quietly opened the envelope in his room.

“You have eyes but failed to see…”

“You have ears but failed to hear…”

“You have lips but failed to speak…”

 “You were strong but failed to protect…”

“You have hearts but failed to spare…”

He eyes the letter, trying hard to understand the message deeply.

‘What the hell does this mean!?’ he thought as he clutch his knuckle around the letter. His eyebrows are knitted together; sweat was filling his forehead too.

“HYUNG!” the two youngest came in barging in to his room. Daehyun jumps from his desk and snaps his head around to face the boys.

“WHAT!?” he yelled.

“Whoa. What’s with the expression hyung!?” Zelo noticed his sweating forehead and knitted eyebrows.

“Do you need to use the bathroom?” Jongup joked and Zelo followed a laugh. “That’s what you get for eating almost half container of the ice cream!”

“Very funny guys. What do you want?” Daehyun hid the letter under his pillow next to him.

“We’re going home. We’ll try to study on our own this time,” Jongup smiled, trying to hide his laughter.

“Tss. You guys just don’t trust me, huh? Yah! Youngjae isn’t the only one who’s smart!” he tried smacking the head of the two but they ran back to the door.

“Sorry hyung. But we gotta go. We already did the dishes for you anyway…” the two bid good bye then headed out of their hyung’s dorm.

~*~

Jongup and Zelo part ways down the street. Jongup headed right, to fetch his pet dog while Junhong continued to walk back home.

“Here’s your little rascal,” a guy grabbed Jongup’s pet and handed it to him.

“Thanks Himchan hyung…” Jongup smiled brightly at him and cradled the cute little brown figure in his arms. “Hey there Pikachu. Missed me? hehe,”

“Oh and somebody wanted to give you this,” Yongguk showed Jongup a black envelope.

Jongup tilted his head and hesitated before taking the small black envelope. “Thanks hyung. But… how come… you have it?”

“A guy came here right after you left yesterday. He said he wanted to give that to you personally but he saw you walking here and when he came in, you were already out. He just handed that to me and said to give it to you,” Yongguk explained.

Jongup just nodded. ‘This thing kinda rings a bell,’

“Do you happen to know him hyung?” he asked but the latter shook his head. “Did you notice anything?” again, Yongguk shook his head.

“Come to think about it…” Himchan started and got Jongup’s attention. He seemed to be in deep thought and trying to remember something. “He was kinda weird. He was wearing a cap and his head was always down. That’s why I don’t recognize him,”

Jongup headed out of the pet shop and walked home while playing with his little friend. He slipped the envelope in his pocket. His hand was holding it from inside his pocket while the other was holding the strap of the other end from the puppy’s collar.

As soon as the two reached their home, Jongup settled his little puppy on the couch and left for his room. He took out the letter from his pocket and stared at it again. Unfortunately, he gave up in trying to remember.

‘Curse my low memory span,’ he opened the letter in frustration and raised his eyebrow at the statement.

“You have eyes but failed to see…”

“You have ears but failed to hear…”

“You have lips but failed to speak…”

 “You were strong but failed to protect…”

“You have hearts but failed to spare…”

“Say what?” he tossed the letter to his side table and didn’t even mind it’s message. He went in to his closet and just changed his clothes.

After coming out of the closet, his phone rang.

“Hey Zelo what’s up?”

“H-hyung…” Jongup raised an eyebrow at Zelo’s tone.

“What’s wrong?” he asked worried.

“I think I’m in trouble,” Zelo said as low as a whisper.

“W-wait, what? What do you mean?” he was panicking at the sound of his friend.

“A-about yesterday. Remember that guy I stood up to? I think he’s after m-me...” Junhong explained and Jongup’s ears perked up.

“How do you know? Did you bump into him? Did you see him—“

“Dad called. He said he saw my name tag on that guy’s house. Hyung what do I do!?” Junhong was completely panicking and Jongup could imagine how scared Junhong is right now.

“Chill Zelo. If your dad already called, then is there even anything to be afraid of?” he waited for Junhong to answer but the other line was quiet. Jongup sighed.

“Look, if there’s even one thing you should be panicking about now, it’s your dad’s homily on ‘How many times have I told you not to use my name as a shield when you’re in trouble’ verse: ‘I can’t believe you stood up to a man as old as I am’. Now, breathe!” he shouted the last part and relief splattered across junhong’s face from the other line.

Silence came up and jongup’s eyes found the letter on his side table. That’s when he remembered.

‘Daehyun hyung…’ he thought and his eyes widened. ‘Could it be the same letter?’

~*~

Zelo hung up and stared at the black letter in his hands.

‘Jongup hyung is right. There’s nothing to be afraid of,’ he reminded himself and placed the letter in between his book.

“No letter can scare the hell out of me! I’m Choi Junhong! The son of the best Detective in town!” he shouted to himself and lifted his fist in the air.

~*~

Detective Choi had his eyebrows knitted together as he stared at the name tag he was holding. He remembered his conversation with him.

“Junhong-ah, do you happen to know a man named Lee Byunghun?” he asked as soon as his son picked up. His tone was harsh, considering what he found at the crime scene.

It took a while before Zelo answered. “Y-yes dad,”

Woosik sighed at his son’s answer, “Your name tag is in his house,”

Then he quickly hung up.

‘What is Junhong’s name tag doing in a dead man’s basement floor?’ he clenched his fist at the name tag. ‘Please let my son have a good reason for this,’

“Detective?” his officer caught his attention.

“We have a new addition to our team,” the officer presented their new team member.

“Good day Detective Choi. I’m Officer Jung Hana,” she smiled and bowed as the detective return the gesture.

“May I ask how old you are?” the detective got curious, considering the girl’s young features.

“24 years old sir,” she answered confidently.

The detective whispered to the officer. “Isn’t she a bit too young for this?”

“Yes sir. But we could consider her an ace due to her experience,” the guy explained and bowed, leaving the two as they search the scene.

“Tss,” the detective smirked, seemingly getting a bit intimidated at the young officer he will be working with. Detective Choi isn’t really used to teaming up with younger officers. Well, maybe except Officer Lee who is obviously clueless when it comes to cases but is very handy when it comes to interviewing/interrogating people/suspects/victims.

Detective Choi and Officer Jung eyed the whole scene. The small basement has nothing much in it. Just a bed at the side and a table right next to it. A small window was at the top most part of it too but it was too small for anyone to fit in.

The body was placed on the floor; the man had his back at the wall. Blood had stopped coming out of the wound on his stomach and back; leaving only bloodstains on his whole body and pants. On his feet was a rope about more than 1.5 meter in length and his hands were tied to the front.

“Stabbed to death?” Officer Jung stated. “This guy must’ve been tortured for sure,”

Detective Choi glanced at her for second, ‘How can she be an ace with that kind observation?’

“If it isn’t obvious enough, yes, he was tortured. His body was tied up from the ceiling by the rope on his feet. While hanging, that’s when he was being stabbed to death,” the detective stated with a tone of sarcasm in his voice.

The young officer snarled within her.

“You’re an ace?” the detective suddenly asked. The officer was taken aback first but then she nodded confidently and answered.

“That’s what they used to call me back in the university,”

“Used to? You’re not an ace anymore?” Detective Choi emphasized the question without looking at his hoobae. His action constantly intimidating the younger.

Officer Hana breathed deeply. “I excel in certain circumstances sir. With all due respect sir, I believe I could do better than you during those circumstances,”

The detective smirked and whispered to himself, “I wonder what kind of circumstances are those,”

One of the investigators suddenly bumped into the detective, causing him to drop the name tag. Officer Hana then picked it up for him.

“You dropped this,” she handed it to him after looking up to the name. ‘Choi Junhong, 2-A’,

“O-oh. Thank you,” he took it then suddenly noticed the officer’s expression, “What?”

“Is that part of the evidence?” she asked casually.

The detective swallowed. “Yes. But it we don’t—“

“So that makes the owner of that name tag a suspect, right?” she asked as-a-matter-of-factly.

The detective breathed heavily. “Anything is possible. This doesn’t prove anything,”

The younger just smirked.

“Now who would want to kill a janitor…?” the young officer roamed her eyes through the whole scene.

“He’s not just a janitor. He was sentenced in prison for about 7 years for drug abuse. And then the neighbours said that he would frequently make a fuss at the public market for asking money from the people who owes him,” the detective’s officer answered.

Hana stared at him for a while then smiled warmly, “I wonder why you’re not in my position, Sungjong-ssi?”

Sungjong chuckled. “You deserve this position noona. Besides, I’d rather interview people than take an intimidating look from Detective Choi,”

The older just sighed and look at the wall. “This is some huge calendar,”

Almost most of the part of the wall was covered by the said calendar. The sight of it made Hana curious and at the same time, anxious.

Sungjong followed her gaze and stared at it too, “That’s weird,”

“Wait!” Detective Choi immediately shouted. The two looked back at him as he approached them.

The detective grabbed hold of the end of the calendar, leaving Hana and Sungjong staring at him in curiosity.

“What’s—“

“The year is replaced,” Sungjong was cut off by Hana. The detective nodded.

“2008?” Sungjong pointed to year in the calendar that was replaced using a red marker. “What does that mean?”

“5 years ago…” the detective muttered. In his head, he was panicking. He was expecting this to happen, but not this way.

Hana stared at him intently. His eyes were moving from side to side. ‘He knows what’s happening,’

“Send the body to the forensics,” detective Choi ordered as he snapped back. Sungjong immediately called for them as the detective leaves the apartment. Hana followed suit.

Detective Choi headed for his office and opened his computer.

‘This video has something to do with this case,’ he thought as he opened the video up on his browser and stared at the scene.

A young teenager was being stabbed brutally at a public park. People were there at the park too, just staring at the poor girl while she’s obviously dying. They didn’t do anything to help her. She screamed for mercy but the man just laughed amusingly at her cries.

“Unni! Help me!” she called for a girl with violet hair about her age too, who walked by and had a worried expression on her face. The passerby held her hand, helping her to get up but the man grabbed the poor girl’s hair and pointed the blood covered knife to the one that tried to help his victim.

“STAY OUT OF THIS!” the man yelled and a brown curled girl quickly yanked the poor girl’s hand away while she was obviously shaking in fear. The brown haired girl dragged her friend away to a corner and cupped her violet-headed friend’s face as she whispers something. The two were crying as seen in the video.

“CALLING FOR HELP!?” the man shouted at her as her cries get louder and louder. The man held her by the hair and dragged her by the corner and started to stab her left shoulder. She screamed louder than ever as the blood started to come out of the wound.

“SCREAM LOUDER!” the man ordered and as if complying to his wishes, the girl screamed more as more stabs reached her body. In the background, a few cries can be heard by other people.

“No, no! Don’t look at them!” a teenager said while trying to keep his little brother’s gaze away from the horrifying scene. The 11-year-old didn’t mind his brother but instead he locked his eyes through the whole scene.

“Holy !” a teenager cursed as he noticed that the girl had her eyes barely open. “What the is that guy’s problem?” he cursed again and again which can be heard since he was literally standing right next to the camera and half of his face could be seen.

“Somebody help her!” the same teenager called again and was facing someone not so far away. The one video-taping it pushed the boy out of the way, causing the screen to show a glass window and then within a second, the camera was now focused on a man.

But not just any other man. It was him. Detective Choi.

He had his eyes locked on the girl who already had her eyes closed with blood and tears coming down her face. People around started fussing, but the detective was just staring at the scene with shock written all over his face. He didn’t made a move to stop the man, he was just… there.

“SHE’S NOT BREATHING!” the teenager exclaimed, causing the video-taker to focus the camera on the girl. It was true. She had her eyes closed. Her tears had stopped pouring. Her wails of pain couldn’t be heard, not even a sob of pain were escaping her lips anymore. Most of all, her chest wasn’t heaving. It was steady. So steady… that meant she was breathing.

“WHO WANTS TO BE NEXT!?” the man shouted while laughing. The crowd around him started to panic, making their own way out of the scene.

And that’s when the video ended.

“That Lee Byunghun guy isn’t even here in this video,” he whispered to himself and stared at the screen.

“But why—Aish! Why doesn’t it make sense!?” he slammed his hands on the table and gripped his hair tightly.

A pair of eyes stared at the detective as he tries to solve this case.

“I guess the video really got to your nerves, Detective Choi,” the person laughed bitterly. “This would be fun,”

-----

Sorry for the late update xD Wifi at our place TT___TT School's about to start and I have 3 stories to finish... WTH was i thinking >__<

COMMENTS PLEASE! :))