I’ll tear your heart out because deep down that’s what you want.

Minji was nervous – she wondered how long she had until she was found out. At first, when she had started out, she’d been bubbling with confidence. Even though he had said repeatedly that it might require a sacrifice, she had not worried about it. But the more she thought about it, the more it seemed that getting caught was inevitable.

Right now, she felt her heart racing so much that there was a dull thud ricocheting across her skull, repeatedly. She was standing against a small coffee table in the viewing room, along with Youngjae. Sungyeol and Woohyun had left to investigate a possible crime scene with Myungsoo, so that when Lee Chanyeol had been brought in, having been arrested while trying to get on a train bound for Gwangju, she, Hana, and Youngjae were the only detectives present at the precinct besides the Captain. She had just come back from returning the files, when she heard about Chanyeol’s arrest. She’d been hoping he wouldn’t be found, at least not so quickly. But it was not to be.

Leaving the two junior detectives to watch over and learn from the interrogation, the Captain and Hana had gone in. It had been about five minutes, but Chanyeol was vehemently denying murdering Dr. Ok. His version and the true version of the story ran this way: he’d indeed bought the gun with the intention of killing Dr. Ok but when he’d actually faced the doctor, he couldn’t do it. He had indeed thrown the paperweight at him, because apparently the doctor had been saying rubbish that had angered him, but he didn’t shoot at him.

“I dropped my gun there, I ran away, but I didn’t shoot, I swear,” he kept on repeating, his eyes red and his appearance disheveled.

Hana reiterated that they had found his finger prints on the gun.

“Yes, I was holding it, but I didn’t shoot at him.”

“Then who did it Chanyeol? Witnesses saw you running out of the building moments after the gunshot…”

Minji held her breath at this point, her lungs suddenly feeling heavy. Biting her lips, she waited for him to reply. Had she been careless? Had he seen her? That wouldn’t do now, would it?

This can’t be the end for me.

“I heard the gunshot after I came out of the doctor’s room. I thought that maybe he was shooting at me, so I ran faster, I swear.”

“Okay, for a moment let’s believe your version of the story,” the Captain said ominously. Minji had never spared him much thought but now that she saw him, there was something terrifying about him, something grave and dark. The way he spoke was measured; his gaze was piercing. It would fill anyone with dread to look into those eyes. Minji wondered how long she’d stand, seated across from him in that interrogation room.

Please let it not be today…I can’t fail him.

“Leaving aside all the proof that we have of you murdering him, tell me why did you want to kill Dr. Ok in the first place?  And do not lie, it was a murder attempt, and you can be arrested for it.”

Chanyeol’s hollowed sobs echoed around the room. She expected them to give him some time to recover but instead, the Captain growled, “Lee Chanyeol, sit up straight, put your elbows down and answer me.”

He said it with raw ferocity and she saw Youngjae flinch beside her. Amazingly, it had an instant effect on Chanyeol, who stopped sobbing, and looked up at Howon as if he’d been hypnotized. He sat up straighter, his arms resting on his lap.

Gulping, he muttered, “I – he killed him, Dr. Ok murdered Kris.”

Minji couldn’t see Chanyeol’s face well from her position so she shifted a bit, training her eyes to catch his expression. She was new to this story, because he wouldn’t tell her the details. But she reckoned whatever Chanyeol was saying was the truth.

“You saw him murder Kris?” Hana asked.

“Yes, he was wearing Kris’ jacket -”

“Just a moment, Chanyeol-ssi,” Howon cut across him, “you saw Dr. Ok shooting Kris?”

“No but I saw him there. I had thought it was Kris because of the jacket, but when I got down from the taxi and approached him – it was Dr. Ok. He fled the scene, leaving behind Kris’ body…”

He couldn’t continue anymore; despite the Captain’s glare, he hid his face in his hands.

“So you didn’t actually see Kris getting shot, or hit on the head?” Hana clarified.

Chanyeol nodded.

“But who else could it be?” Youngjae said out loud from beside Minji. He wore a frustrated expression on his face. If Dr. Ok had indeed disposed of the body, it was safe to assume he had killed Kris. She didn’t know what Hana and Captain Lee were thinking, but this case seemed solved already. There was conclusive evidence that Dr. Ok had murdered Kris.

“Tell me what did you two talk about when you went to see him yesterday?”

“I accused him – I told him that I saw him killing Kris. He said he didn’t shoot him, he only hit him on the head with a baseball bat-”

“Wait, are you certain he said baseball bat?”

Nodding, he continued, “And he said he did it to protect a friend, that the gun he had on him was actually Kris’, that he used the gun to threaten his friend-”

“Did he say who this friend was?”

Chanyeol shook his head.

“I was angry with him for lying. I told him to show me the gun and Kris’ jacket and he said – he said he was going to turn them in, that he was going to tell the police everything. I couldn’t stand it, him lying like that – I threw a paperweight at him and his forehead split, but I couldn’t kill him like he killed Kris. I just couldn’t…” His words became incoherent mumblings. The captain and Hana couldn’t decipher anymore of it, he maintained till the end that he was innocent.

But only I know that, and I hope to keep it that way.

“So what did you think?” Youngjae asked her, resting his index finger on his lip.

“He’s lying,” she said automatically.

Youngjae nodded appreciatively.

“There is no doubt he killed Dr. Ok, and Dr. Ok killed Kris – that’s the end. Case solved.”

“I guess they are wondering because Dr. Ok is not really related to the drug business.”

“No one seems to be related to it, but then everyone is.”

She had to agree with that. She thought about Blood Lily and the intricate web Sunggyu had described in his files. He was cold and dangerous, but that was what inspired and excited her so much. He felt more like a shadow than a man, an awareness rather than a person. It was scary, the thought of a mere name behind everything, operating in secrecy, as good as an illusion, but it was also exhilarating, at least for Minji. She prided herself for having seen him, known him. That name had a face, for her, raven eyes and hair so dark that it was as if the night had been woven into his hair; pale skin, cold to the touch.

She was awakened from her daydream about Blood Lily by Youngjae.

“What is it?” she asked, a little irately; she didn’t appreciate the interference.

“I was asking if you’d like to have dinner with me one day, after the case is solved.”

She looked at her colleague, surprised. Youngjae hadn’t come off as a man with romantic notions, and yet here he was, asking her out on what possibly was a date. Had she enamored him?

Too bad, I’m already taken.

She was saved from replying by the entrance of Hana and the Captain. Hana threw down a file on the coffee table and plopped onto a chair. She looked exhausted.

“There’s something I have to share with you guys,” she said, messaging her neck. “I called the detective who had handled Kris’ case in China. Don’t even ask,” she said to Youngjae, who was no doubt was going to ask her how she’d managed to contact a foreign detective and obtain information from him. “I used a translator and a friend at Interpol.” The Captain looked impressed as Hana proceeded, “They never got to the bottom of it but the detective believes that Kris was the leader of a drug business in China, which had close alliance with a Korean and Taiwanese cartel. He believes it’s the same gang and Kris ran its faction in China. But when he was caught, he couldn’t do business in China anymore so he was relocated, in other words, he was transferred to China where he continued his job.”

Youngjae whistled as Minji started to feel increasingly uncomfortable. Should she have known about this? Should they be allowed to find all this out?

I need to tell him.

“So Kris wasn’t just a measly dealer, he was one of the higher-ups,” Youngjae commented.

“There is a good chance he knew Blood Lily and all of the upper echelon members, RTS couldn’t have such a person leaving them. So they roped him in, made him work again, but when they saw that he was going to quit for good, he was killed.”

It sounded chilling in the Captain’s voice.

“Dr. Ok was in charge of threatening him, and then killing him?” she asked, her voice breaking a bit. She was still talking to not seem suspicious. Although there was no reason for them to suspect her. She tried to calm herself down, she was losing my cool. That was dangerous.

“It would seem so, since the burner phone was found in his possession.”

“And Taemin was just helping with the exchange?”

The Captain nodded solemnly but something wasn’t right – he was frowning.

“Why would a respectable doctor like Dr. Ok…and what was this friend he was talking about?”

“Didn’t he just make it up, to fool Chanyeol?” she said hopefully. She didn’t know why but she had a feeling the conversation was being steered into dangerous waters.

“Maybe, but Dr. Ok just doesn’t fit in…” Howon said, frowning still.

Hana’s phone suddenly started ringing. She received it, listened intently for a minute, then hung. Looking at them with a bright expression, she announced, “The crime scene has been found. Sungyeol just told me, they got back the forensic results from the baseball field and it’s a match. They’ve found the blunt instrument used on Kris – it was a baseball bat.” Then, as if unsure about if she should add it, she said, “It’s a bat belonging to Myungsoo’s brother, the ex-detective Kim Sunggyu.”