Life is a gift...

Star Destiny was a huge affair. It was hosted within a ten-storied building, massive and intimidating. The inside was spotless, and even though it was morning, curtains were drawn across all the windows and the place was lit by flashing lights, as if every room was a site for photoshoot. The decorations were elegant – large posters of the models under the agency greeted us at the lobby. They were larger than life images as the models glared down on us, their expressions haughty. I was looking around for a poster of Kris but couldn’t find one. Woohyun, meanwhile, was trying to explain to the receptionist what our business was.

“You two would do nicely as models but I’m sorry, your heights are not exactly -”

“Detective Inspector Nam Woohyun, and this is my colleague, Kim Myungsoo,” Woohyun cut across the woman at the reception, flashing her his badge. “We are here to talk about Mr. Wu Yifan – Kris.”

The woman, who was thinner than any person I had ever seen and smelled as if she had been doused in a giant bucket of perfume, looked surprised.

“Did he get into trouble again?”

We exchanged glances.

“No, he’s dead.”

The woman gasped loudly, slapping her hand over . Her heavily lined eyes widened.

“I’m sorry, but can we talk to someone in charge?” Woohyun said but she was obviously in shock and didn’t reply until another couple of minutes.

“Um – okay.”

She picked up the telephone and pressed some buttons. She said something urgently in hushed tones, then ushered us toward the lift. We took it to the tenth floor, in silence as she had still not recovered completely. I thought I even saw tears in her eyes. Woohyun raised an eyebrow and I shrugged. She probably had talked to Kris yesterday as well, and today he was dead.

"I talked to him even yesterday, and now he's dead," she said, sniffing.

“Who are we seeing?” I asked as she led us through a finely carpeted corridor, much more composed than before.

“T-the CEO. He runs – well, he’s in charge of everything, Mr. Kim Kibum.”

We stopped in front of a huge wooden paneled door. Someone was waiting for us there. He was a man, maybe in his twenties. The suit he was wearing was obviously branded and I thought I caught a whiff of perfume on him as well. His hair was dyed blonde.

“What’s going on Hara?” he asked nervously. He glanced at us fearfully once, before concentrating on his colleague.

“K-Kris is dead – that’s what they are saying.”

The man had an identical reaction to Hara when she’d first it. Removing his hand from over his mouth, he said in a squeaky voice, “That’s impossible!”

“No, it isn’t. It happened. Are you Mr. Kibum?” Woohyun asked.

The man shook his head.

“I’m Lee Taemin, his assistant. Please come in through here.” He pushed the large doors in front of us open. We followed him, while Hara turned back, walking down the corridor. She’d probably inform everyone in the office in the next few minutes.

We walked into the largest office I had ever been to. It probably took up more than half of the tenth floor. The curtains were drawn, just as we had seen everywhere else – the room was lit by the soft glow of an elaborate chandelier, hanging from the center of the ceiling. Everything in the room seemed to be a certain shade of pink but for some reason it looked nice.

“Sir, the police…”

“Okay Taemin, thanks. You can leave now.”

Kim Kibum was standing in front of one of the curtained windows, with his hands behind his back. He was staring at the curtains in front of him. He looked like he was in his forties, but he too had blonde hair like his assistant. I noticed ear rings and an assortment of rings on his fingers. He was dressed strangely – in white shorts and high socks. He was wearing some kind of a top I supposed, but it looked more like a sack which had been cut to let his hands out. It probably was fashionable but I couldn’t tell.

“Gentlemen, is it true?” he addressed us.

For some reason, Kibum didn’t look like the kind of person who’d order the death of his employees just to save money. But that didn’t mean anything – if I had learned one thing in my career, it was to not judge a book by its cover.

We introduced ourselves.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Kim but it’s true. May we?”

Woohyun pointed at the sofas laid out at one side of the room and Kibum ushered us toward them. He sat down facing us and crossed his legs. Bringing out the file on Kris, Woohyun showed him the picture of the dead body.

Kibum shivered involuntary as he stared at Kris’ lifeless body, only to look away the next moment.

Sighing, he shook his head and said something like, “Tragic, tragic indeed.”

He definitely didn’t look like someone who might have expected it.

“He was shot,” I said carefully, watching him for his reaction. “Which means someone caused his death. Do you have any idea who would?”

Biting his lips, Kibum leaned back in his sofa. He looked like he had something bitter in his mouth.

“This is a cutthroat business, detectives. I won’t lie, the competition here is fierce. Everyone wants to succeed, and they’d do anything.”

“Even kill a competitor?”

“Anything, apart from killing a competitor. That has never happened…”

I took out my notebook and readied my pen. Woohyun and I took turns in taking the lead at interviews, and the other always noted down anything important. It was easier for the interviewee to focus on one person rather than being confused between two.

“Kibum-ssi, do you think a model could have killed Kris?”

Fiddling with a ring on his finger, Kibum sat up straight and said, “Kris wasn’t my best man. I was actually quite disappointed in him. He was good looking and tall but he wasn’t bringing in the – well, he wasn’t as busy as some of my other models. He had promise, that one.” His eyes strayed to the picture of Kris’s body, which Woohyun had left on the table. “Definitely not someone you’d want out of the way though, because frankly, he wasn’t much of a threat.”

“I see,” Woohyun said, looking at Kibum sharply. He was of course for any signs of betrayal, to check if he was indeed lying. “Was he disappointed by his performance?”

Kibum scratched his head.

“Er…honestly, I didn’t know him that well. His manager could tell you more about him.”

Woohyun picked up a magazine from the coffee table in front of us, leafing through it.

“And who would you say your top models are?”

“Siwon is, and also Hyosung. Sunhwa’s doing quite well these days.”

“And did any of them have – well, any bad blood with Kris?”

Kibum looked confused.

“Maybe Kris tried to attack one of these top models, and he ended up getting killed,” Woohyun explained.

A look of comprehension dawned on the CEO. He scrunched up his face.

“Well, none of my top models had anything to do with Kris, but a few days ago, an incident was reported between Kris and Jinwoon. I don’t know the details, but if you speak to Taemin…”

“Yes, we’d like to very much. Also, you understand, we need to talk to all your staffs, especially those who knew and worked with Kris. We need the details of Kris’ work schedule too.”

“Of course, of course,” Kibum said, nodding, as he got up. He went over to the massive cherry desk that sat at the other end of the room and pressed a button. “I’ll tell Taemin, he’ll help you with everything you need.”

“And one more thing, where were you yesterday between 1 and 4 am?” Woohyun asked the question conversationally but Kibum’s eyes flashed with fear. Even across the room, I could see him his lips anxiously.

“You don’t I had anything to do -”

“Just a formality.” Woohyun shrugged his shapely shoulders and grinned at him. He looked charming and reassuring, and it seemed to have some effect on Kibum. He cleared his throat.

“We had a company dinner last night, at Radisson. I was there until 2 am. After that I came back home.”

I jotted down his alibi, while Woohyun said, almost absent-mindedly, “And can anyone verify that?”

“My chauffer, he drove me to my house. My housekeeper opened the door for me.”

He was forcing himself to keep his voice steady.

“Thank you.” Woohyun flashed him another grin.

“Should we get Sungyeol down here and get statements from everyone?” I whispered to Woohyun, who nodded.

While Kibum gave his instructions to Taemin, I called up Sungyeol and told him what he had to do.

“Can you ask Hana? I’m following a lead here,” he told me. I understood that he didn’t want to run into Woohyun, not when the incident from the morning was fresh in his mind.

“You know what, I’ll ask Minji. Hana’s checking out Kris’ place at the moment.”

I cancelled the call before Sungyeol could ask who Minji was.

I called her up next, as I followed Woohyun and Taemin out of the CEO’s office into the corridor. We were heading toward the lift. Woohyun was talking to Taemin about the company dinner last night. He said he had been there, but couldn’t remember if he had seen Kris there.

“We were all very drunk,” Taemin said apologetically. “But I think I saw Kris once…”

“Yes Minji, Star Destiny Company. You know what, bring Youngjae along with you. He can show you the ropes.”

Youngjae was not supposed to get out of the office but given that Sungyeol had denied doing it, I had to call him.

“Yes Sir.”

It was strange to hear Minji call me ‘Sir’. I cut the call and gave Woohyun the thumbs-up that told him that everything was in order.

“You won’t happen to know what happened between Jinwoon and Kris the other day, would you Taemin?” Woohyun was the kind of detective who was very friendly with the witnesses and even suspects. That could be a huge advantage sometimes because he put them in a relaxed state, they could let slip something accidentally.

“Yeah, well not exactly. I got there only because Jonghyun called me. By then, they had been pulled apart from each other. They were both furious, obviously.”

“Yes of course. Oh, can we go and see Kris’ manager first?” he added when Taemin looked at him questioningly, hands poised over the floor buttons on the lift.

He pressed the ‘3’ button and put his hands inside his pockets. He was sending furtive glances our way. I tried to smile at him but he didn’t really catch it. I realized he was curious.

“Did you know Kris well?” I asked politely.

Taemin bit his lips.

“Umm not really. He was, well he didn’t have many friends here, he kind of kept to himself. And I mostly work with Mr. Kibum so I don’t go down there much…”

We alighted on a floor where everything seemed to be in a different shade of blue. Just like the other floors, ornate decorations hung from the walls, and carpets lined the floors. It was all very soothing. I remembered the time Sungjong had taken me carpet shopping. He had been obsessed with getting the carpet of the finest quality. I’d thought felt very stupid back then because I knew nothing about carpets.

“Junho hyung!”

A man was walking toward us rapidly; he held a cell phone to his right ear and as he came nearer, lines of worry were evident on his forehead.

“Not now Taemin,” he muttered as he hit redial. “Kris hasn’t shown up yet, and he has a fitting in twenty minutes. I can’t get through -”

“I think we can help you there,” Woohyun said. The man, Junho, looked up at Woohyun and frowned. He then lifted his shoulders in a questioning gesture at Taemin, who jumped to his side and whispered something in his ear.

Junho’s face changed color fast. His heavily penciled eyebrows climbed up his forehead and disappeared into his carefully maintained fringes. Ghastly pallor descended on his rosy cheeks and his kohl-rimmed eyes widened in shock.

“No! that’s impossible, I saw him yesterday…”

“Would you like to sit down?” I asked, concerned. He looked absolutely distraught.

“Is there somewhere we can sit and talk?” Woohyun asked Taemin, who told us to follow him. I took one of Junho’s arms because I didn’t think he could walk by himself. Woohyun gave him an encouraging smile, which he probably missed.

Taemin ushered us into a small room with glass paneled walls. On Woohyun’s instructions, he drew the blinds and closed the door, alienating us from the outside. I helped Junho into a chair, and he immediately hid his face in his hands.

“I’ll arrange for tea,” Taemin muttered and left us.

I felt uncomfortable for some reason, but Woohyun didn’t seem to mind. I was bad at comforting people, especially people who were grieving.

Patting Junho softly on the back, Woohyun said, “I understand that it has come as a shock. You were probably close to Kris.”

“Close – close!” Junho suddenly jerked up from his seat and howled. “I was his all. I was more than his manager, I was his confidante, his best friend. When he first joined this company, I told him I’d make him a star! A star!”

Junho’s hysterics continued until Woohyun had gotten him to calm down by speaking softly and making him drink some chamomile tea that Taemin had brought us.

The last of his sobs were drowned in the handkerchief I had let him borrow. He seemed to pull himself together by force, and sat up straighter on his chair.

“It will be really useful if you answer some of our questions.”

“Yes, yes, anything for Kris. That bastard has to be found, whoever killed Kris!”

Woohyun eyed me and I went back to my diary and pen. The first few questions were about how Junho had gotten to know Kris. Apparently, the company assigned a manager to every model they sign. Junho had been out of work when Kris had joined the company three years ago. The model he used to manage had just retired. Kris had passed the audition well and the company was very hopeful about him. As a veteran, Junho had been assigned to Kris to help him rise to stardom.

“But luck just wasn’t on his side,” he said bitterly.

Kris had struggled through the first year. And then he got mixed up in the drug business. That had caused a serious dent in his career.

“But when he didn’t go to jail, I thought he still had a chance.”

But unfortunately, the notoriety didn’t help Kris at all. He didn’t have any notable work for months and today’s fitting was supposed to be the first in a long time - a big jecket company had asked kris to be their model.

Junho wiped a tear from his eye.

“He wouldn’t give up you know, he was a fighter. He would have fought on, and I said I’d fight alongside him.” Sighing, he took a sip from his now cold tea.

When I asked him if Kris had any problems with anyone at the company, he shook his head vehemently. He repeated what Taemin had said – Kris kept to himself mostly and didn’t have many friends.

“He isn’t - wasn’t that good in Korean either, or he could have been casted in a drama or a movie.”

He heaved another sigh.

“And what about enemies?”

Blinking wearily, Junho told us that since Kris didn’t mix in other people’s business, he didn’t have any enemies. As for the people from the drug business, he was sure Kris had cut all ties with them.

“I can’t imagine who’d do such a thing.”

“What about Jinwoon?”

“Jinwoon?” Juno blinked rapidly.

“Yeah, he’s a model here, apparently Kris had a fight with him a few days ago.”

“Oh.” Comprehension dawned on Junho’s face. “No – I mean I don’t know. I’m not sure what happened that day, Kris wouldn’t tell me. He just said it’s no big deal.”

Woohyun nodded. Then he said, “Can you tell me about the dinner last night? What did Kris do or who he spoke with?”

Junho rubbed his eye with his fingers.

“He came at around 6.30. I told him to come early because I wanted to brief him before meeting the party. There was going to be a famous fashion designer at the dinner, and I wanted to get a good word in with him.” He paused, closing his eyes. “I was with him till 10, and then I went off to speak to some other people. He was still at the dinner, because I saw him here and there. He left around 3. I left at 4; I was one of the last ones to leave.”

If Kris was alive till 3 am, that narrowed down the time of death for us. It had to have happened between 3 and 4 am. But the alley where his body was found was not in the neighborhood of the hotel where the dinner was held. Even if he had been dragged to the alley, he had to be murdered within a couple of blocks of the alley. That put his time of death closer to 4 am.

“Did you talk to him immediately before he left?”

“Yes, he told me he was leaving. I reminded him of the fitting today. He said he’ll be there.”

Junho sniffed as he remembered his last encounter with Kris. His eyes were still red from crying. It seemed too cruel to ask him to recount his last meeting with the victim, but we had to do our job and sooner we asked the questions, the better. The memories would fade later as the coping mechanism would kick in and we would be able to obtain lesser details with time.

“Was he drunk when he left?”

He shook his head.

“No, he only had a few drinks in the evening. He was perfectly sober when he left.”

I noted the fact down. He couldn’t have gotten into a drunken fight then.

“And did he drive?”

“No.”Woohyun looked at me, and I nodded. We were done here for now. We thanked Junho and told him he could go home. He didn’t look like he could bear to spend another moment here.

Death was a horrible thing – it not only affected the victim, but also everyone around them.