“Anyway, do you know this friend of Taehyun? I mean, have you met him before?” Jinwoo asked as they got off from the bus. They just needed to walk about some minutes to reach the police station. She let out a heavy sigh as she felt her heavy step. Today she would do something big. She never dealt with police before and this new big step she decided to take had a big effect to her life. She really set her hopes high that police would find the culprit. She really thought that police would find him soon so she didn’t need to worry again. She would have a peaceful life like before.

Yes, she would, she hoped so.

She shook her head. “No, I haven’t met him before. Taehyun barely mentions this friend though.” She answered as they kept walking.

“But, he sounded like he knew you. Remember, yesterday’s call?” Jinwoo reminded her. She just nodded uncertainly while remembering yesterday’s call. She decided to call Kim Jinhwan and planned to tell him everything. But she didn’t state that on the call though. She wanted to meet him at the first place. She called him using Jinwoo’s phone since she was too afraid to turn on her own phone. Anyway, this Kim Jinhwan really sounded that he knew her. She didn’t get it why.

“I don’t know. Maybe he always sounds like that, or else Taehyun told him that I need his help.” She shrugged. “At least he agreed to help me out.”

Jinwoo nodded. “You’re right.”

They already reached the police station’s gate. They were surprised to see many people gather a car that has just entered the station’s area. There were not only the police that gathered the car, but also some journalists. Seemed like the police had succeeded to catch a criminal.

Jinwoo sounded a bit worried. “There are many people gathering there. Is he the one in the crowds?”

She looked at the crowd worriedly and sighed. She thought she did sigh many times today and it was just 8 in the morning. “We should call him once again, sunbae.” She said.

“Oh, that’s right.” Jinwoo quickly took out his phone from his pocket. She was about to touch the button as someone was calling. Looking at the number, it was Kim Jinhwan’s number. Good thing he calls, she thought.

“Hello?” she picked up the phone.

“Hello, Noona.” Kim Jinhwan sounded so cheerful. “Have you arrived at the station?”

“Yes.” She replied, looking around just in case Kim Jinhwan was around them. “Are you at the station?”

“No,” Kim Jinhwan replied. “I am at a coffee shop near the station.”

Coffee shop? Does it mean he is not with those police arresting the criminal?

“My team has arrested a criminal this morning, and he’s taken to the station, my colleagues are with him.” Kim Jinhwan added, answering her curiosity. “But, since Noona will meet me, I come at this coffee shop. It’ll be better to meet up here since the station is so crowded with the journalists. What do you think?”

“Alright.” She nodded.

Kim Jinhwan mentioned the location. “See you.”

She hung up the phone and looked at her senior. Jinwoo stared at her. “Where is he?”

“He’s in a coffee shop near here, sunbae. He’s not at the station.” She told him.

“Okay, let’s go.”

The coffee shop Jinhwan talked about was not too far from the police station. There were many people at the shop. She was confused to see no empty seats for them and she could not find Kim Jinhwan. She did not know how he was like. Should she call him again? Surprisingly, there was someone who called her name.

“Noona!”

She turned around and saw a guy waving his hand at her. She blinked many times. Is he really Kim Jinhwan? She looked back and no women behind her, if the young man was really calling another person.

“I think it’s really him.” Jinwoo whispered.

“How could he recognize me?” she replied.

“I don’t know.”

She let out a sigh and they walked up to Kim Jinhwan’s table.

“How are you, noona? I’m Kim Jinhwan whom you called yesterday.” the guy reached out his hand.

“Oh,” she felt awkward. She bowed a little and shook his hand,”How are you?”

Kim Jinhwan smiled brightly at her. His eyes landed at Jinwoo and he introduced himself as well. After that, they took seats. Kim Jinhwan asked what they wanted to order and then the waiter came, writing their orders. Kim Jinhwan himself already had a cup of coffee, but looking at the coffee, seemed like it was just arrived or Kim Jinhwan has not taken any sip of it.

“It’s been a while I didn’t see you, noona.” That was what Kim Jinhwan said after the waiter gone.

She blinked in confusion. “Ha-have we met before?” she asked. She glanced at Jinwoo who looked as confused as her.

Kim Jinhwan giggled to hear her question. “No, we haven’t met before. But I saw you on our graduation day.” He answered. “Taehyun used to talk about you back then when we were still in high school anyways.”

What?

“W-what?” she didn’t get what this guy said. Taehyun talked about me to his high school friends? What did he talk about? She and Taehyun fought a lot at that time. She looked at Kim Jinhwan and the guy looked like he wouldn’t elaborate about it as he took out a note book and a pen from his pocket.

“Anyway, noona,” Jinhwan started the conversation, she didn’t get used on the way he casually called her though,”Taehyun called me days ago said that you probably needed my help. It’s about your friend, isn’t it? Taehyun told me he gave you my number because you would give it to your friend to help him out.” He blabbered and then his eyes landed on Jinwoo. “Is this the friend Taehyun talked about?” he asked.

“Eh?” she and Jinwoo looked at each other.

Of course Kim Jinhwan would think like that. The information he got from Taehyun was that someone who needed his help was her friend. And here she came with a friend. She didn’t blame Kim Jinhwan if he thought like that.

Kim Jinhwan looked at her again. “So, this is the friend that needs my help, noona? Is it about pranks calls and messages? And death threats?” he stared at Jinwoo. “Is it true?”

“No, it’s not about him.” She tried to speak. Kim Jinhwan needed to know the truth of course, she couldn’t hide it if she wanted the case solved. Kim Jinhwan confusedly blinked many times.

“What do you mean, noona?”

“It’s me.”

Kim Jinhwan looked so shocked, totally did not expect what she said. She let out a heavy sigh as their coffees finally came.

“You’re joking, right, noona?” Kim Jinhwan said.

“I’m not, I’m serious.” She replied firmly with hoarse voice. What happened to her?

“But how could you get death threats? Who did that to you?” he sounded frustrated, which was weird for her.

“That’s the question, isn’t it? That’s why I need you to figure it out.” She replied. She let out a sigh once again before looked down at her coffee cup. It was not easy to tell this to everyone. Every time she told this matter to anybody, she would never feel relieved. She was always scared, like nothing could help her escaping from this problem. She thought it would be the same if she told this to Kim Jinhwan. Nothing could save her, nobody could save her.

Jinwoo understood by looking at her expression. He then patted her shoulder. “You should tell him the whole story.”

She then told Kim Jinhwan everything, about the calls, about the messages, and about how she fell to the stairs. The police officer listened to her story carefully, sometimes he wrote something in his note book. He looked like he didn’t believe her story at first, but Jinwoo also told him about the broken CCTV. She believed, looking at Kim Jinhwan’s expression, he has thought that this was really serious.

“You have checked the CCTV, Jinwoo ssi?” Kim Jinhwan asked.

“No, not me, but my friend did.” Jinwoo said. “I asked him to check the CCTV, secretly, of course. He told me at the day it happened, it wasn’t his shift, but his other friends’. There were three people at that day. And the CCTV is really broken. There was no part of her falling, but it really happened since she got injuries after falling and one of our dubbers found her.” He explained.

Kim Jinhwan wrote something at his book before looked up at Jinwoo. “Your friend, who’s his name?”

“Song Yoonhyung.”

“And the dubber who found noona?”

“Kang Seungyoon.”

Kim Jinhwan wrote again on his book. “You said the accident happened in Taehyun’s company building, right, noona?” he asked her.

“Yes.” She replied.

“Do you remember the time?”

“It’s 11.16am.” She replied. “It’s the time when people got drinks and cakes.”

Kim Jinhwan nodded, writing something again, but then he stopped. “Noona, do you still keep the texts from him?”

“Well, no, I mean before I changed my number, I had no intention to keep the texts and report to the police. Anyway, I used to delete messages in my phone and I deleted those texts after I read them. But I haven’t deleted the new message.” She explained.

“Can I see the message, noona?”

She blinked. Well, of course Kim Jinhwan would check her phone. If he didn’t, how could he start the investigation? Thinking that she would get another message from the culprit, she took her phone from her bag with no energy. She gave the phone to Kim Jinhwan who wrinkled his forehead when he got the phone in his hand.

“You turned it off?” he asked.

“Yes. I turned it off since the day I received the message.” She told him, and laughed awkwardly. This really looked stupid, but she was really afraid to get other texts and calls. She sighed. “I’m scared he will contact me again.”

Kim Jinhwan tried to comfort her. “Don’t think that way, noona.” He started to turn on the phone.

“I can’t help it.” She answered honestly.

“Everything’s gonna be alright, don’t wor—“

The three of them were surprised to hear the tone of new messages. There were so many messages came. She got her body stiff as she heard the tone. Were they the texts from the culprit? She didn’t know. Kim Jinhwan was the one who was holding her phone right now. Kim Jinhwan’s face didn’t plaster any serious expression. He slightly smiled seeing her phone.

“You got 15 messages from Song Minho, noona.” He informed her. She felt a bit relieved if the messages were just from Minho. As Taehyun said this morning, Minho was really worried about her and kept calling Taehyun which got her brother annoyed. She really needed to call him later, after she finished this matter.

“Looks like he worried about you.” Kim Jinhwan grinned. He then added panicked. “No, no, I don’t read the whole messages, noona! I just read it slightly.” He laughed awkwardly.

She just nodded without saying anything.

“Ah, you got 5 messages from Taehyun,” Kim Jinhwan continued.

He said he contacted me, too.

“Two messages from your mother…”

Ah, mom said she sent me messages after Taehyun said he couldn’t contact me.

“And…eh?”

She blinked, realizing the different tone from Kim Jinhwan. She looked up at him worriedly. Who sent her other messages?

“Ah, you got…3 messages from unknown number.”

She held her breath. Are they from…

“The number is 821014892764.”

It’s….him.

She got her hands shaking and cold. No, no, no.

“Is this from him?” Kim Jinhwan asked. He didn’t need any answer after he saw her pale face. He sighed heavily and started to read the messages.

“What did he say?” Jinwoo asked as Kim Jinhwan didn’t say anything.

“A-ah, they’re one picture and two messages actually.” Kim Jinhwan said awkwardly.

“What did he say?” Jinwoo asked the same question.

Kim Jinhwan looked confused as he looked up to see her and Jinwoo. But then he gave the phone to them, he pushed the phone so they could see the messages.

Right, it was one picture and two messages.

The picture was a photo of a white wall with a word ‘DEAD’ written on it. It was written by red paint, which looked like blood.

The two messages, she slowly read the words written there

You will be dead

Don’t ever try to hide

Her body was shaking. Why didn’t the culprit stop to send her threats like this? Why did he want to kill her? Why? What was her fault? She thought she would be okay if she turned her phone off. But really it was never that simple, it would be never simple.

What can she do?

Jinwoo patted her back and comforted her. Kim Jinhwan quickly took the phone and tried to call the culprit.

“Darn it, he turns off his phone.” He hissed.

She slowly looked up at Kim Jinhwan. Kim Jinhwan looked back at her with sad eyes, but then he said

“I’ll investigate this, noona. No need to worry. I will catch him.” He said.  “I’ll track his number to know his whereabouts so I hope you will keep your phone turn on.”

She nodded.

There was no use anyway to keep her phone turned off.

She would be still targeted.

She let out a sigh. She really hoped she was just dreaming right now.

It was surprising that she worked well throughout the day. She really tried to forget everything that happened, as Jinwoo advised her to. It really worked, she could do her job well without any pressure. Anyway, it was a good thing that Taehyun didn’t come today so his fans didn’t come as well. She still didn’t know whether those fans were really the culprit or not, but not having them here was really a good thing. Some minutes before she recorded the lines for the last session, she read the scripts again and looked up at the office though the glass wall. Jinwoo was talking to Hanbin, probably about the mixing, while Seungyoon was sleeping on the sofa. Everything looked so normal, it looked so normal as usual. She thought that nothing she should worry, there was nothing she should worry about.

She had been starting to record for her last session of the day. She was too immersed in doing her job and didn’t realize that someone was already in the office.

Song Minho was there, watching her.

Song Minho?

She blinked many times. Song Minho is really there!

How could he get here? She got really puzzled but Minho silently waved at her enthusiastically. He smiled widely at her and it almost ruined her concentration. She made gestures with her hand to make him go away from the office, but he just stuck his tongue at her. He was really like ruining her concentration as he started sticking his own drawing on papers on the glass wall. It was all his drawing of himself with some words and there were in total 4 papers.

Why couldn’t I call you yesterday? he drew himself pouting.

You made me worried! He drew himself folding hands in front of his chest, annoyed.

You should do something for me. he drew himself raising one finger.

Treat me dinner, and I’ll forgive you. He drew himself winking.

O-oh.

Seriously Song Minho!

She almost misspelled the last word of her line. But it was a relief that Jinwoo didn’t ask her to do rerecording. Through the glass wall, she could see Minho’s happy face, knowing her session was over. She quickly pulled off her headphone and rushed to the office. Minho’s smile grew even wider to see her coming.

“How could you get here?” she asked before he even said something.

“Jinwoo ssi let me in.” Minho glanced at Jinwoo. She glanced at Jinwoo but Jinwoo pretended to be busy talking with Hanbin, avoiding her stare. Minho suddenly plastered annoyed expression. She raised an eyebrow to see his sudden changing expression.

“Y-you’re in a day off?” she asked, stuttering. She knew Minho would be here at this hour. He couldn’t leave his office except for lunch break, but now it was not a lunch break and it was no way he was here if he was still working.

“Yes, and I decided to come here since there is someone who didn’t pick up my calls yesterday.” he said in a fake childish cold tone. Jinwoo and Hanbin giggled like idiots to hear the conversation between them, it was mostly because of Minho’s childish tone.

She blinked many times. “A-ah, that…” she didn’t know what to answer. Minho still pretended to be annoyed, he even folded his arms in front of his chest, and it looked the same as his own drawing. Well.

“Your session is over now, you can go on a date.” Jinwoo suddenly said. Hanbin who was still busy mixing chuckled. “Minho ssi has been waiting for you since you started your last session.”

“But, sunbae…” she started to protest.

“Thank you, Jinwoo ssi!” Minho answered happily, his expression changed again. He glanced at her. “Come on.” He smiled widely.

She let out a sigh and nodded. “I’ll take my bag.” She walked towards the sofa. At that time she heard Minho walking up to Jinwoo and Hanbin, innocently asking

“Being a dubber seems so fun. Do you guys accept part-timer dubbers?”

She heard Jinwoo and Hanbin laughed. She had reached the sofa and there was Seungyoon sleeping. Seungyoon was still sleeping, he was really sleeping, not only closing his eyes because he was listening to music, since his mouth was slightly opened. She sighed and stared at him. She didn’t know when Kim Jinhwan would see this partner of hers, but he said he would come to her office, as well as to Taehyun’s company building to see Jinwoo’s friend. She hoped Seungyoon wouldn’t be angry if they brought it up again. Really, she didn’t want to have any misunderstanding again between them. But she really wanted the investigation ended fast, and the culprit would get arrested.

It must be uncomfortable to sleep with headphone on his head, she thought. She slowly took his headphone from his head also his phone in his hand and put them on the table. Seungyoon moved and almost fell from the sofa. She took her bag quickly and left the room.

“Anyway,” Minho spoke up, she turned her head to see him after she closed the door. He pointed at all his drawings on his left hand,”you must answer my question.” He said.

She realized that she hasn’t explained anything to Minho. He must be very curious. She was really confused how she should start the story and she ended up opening but she heard nothing. Minho raised an eyebrow. He let out a heavy sigh.

“I got a feeling that something was wrong at the time I couldn’t call you.” He told her.

She just nodded awkwardly. “Your feeling was right.” She said regretfully. “I just thought that turning off my phone was the best way to hide from him.” She said it with shaky voice. It was not a nice feeling to remember all about the calls and messages again. It was always frightening.

Minho got her point. He widened his eyes. His expression was a mix of surprised and shocked. “H-he… came back?” He murmured.

“Y-yes.”

“How?”

“I don’t know, he just got my number.”

“But I did break your SIM card. How could he know your new number? Not many people know your new number, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right, but I don’t know how he got it.”

“W-what did he say?”

A pause. She couldn’t reply it straightaway. All the words written in the text were like appearing in front of her.

Don’t ever try to hide from me,

She gulped.

because no matter what happens,

She felt it was really hard to breathe.

I’ll always find you,

She felt her head spinning.

and you’ll die.

She also remembered the picture and the other two texts.

DEAD

You will be dead

Don’t ever try to hide

Would she end up like the culprit’s wish? Was she really going to die?

Minho started calling her name since she was going too far on her wild fantasy. She coughed and laughed awkwardly. “C-come on, y-you said you wanted me to t-treat you dinner.” She walked to the exit door. But later she stopped on her tracks. What if the culprit was out there? What if he would find her if she went out?

She was so silly thinking that her workplace was the best place to hide. She really thought she would be safe if she stayed in her office. She had Jinwoo, Hanbin, Hanbyul and other people who would protect her. Surrounded by many people made her forget her fears.

“Yah, what’s wrong?”

She slowly looked at Minho. “I’m afraid…if he will find me out there.”

“What?” Minho looked confused.

“I felt someone following me this morning. I’m just scared.”

Either she was really paranoid, or someone was really following her.  But she really saw someone this morning, looking straight at her.

Seemed like it was really not safe for her to walk around.

“I think it will be better for you to be in disguise.” He said, out of the blue.

“W-what?” she stared at Minho. Minho suddenly took off his jacket. She was speechless as he helped her to put it on. She got more confused as he took off his glasses and hat as well. Some of the staff looked at them and chuckled. They really took people attention. She could not stop Minho anyways. In two minutes, she was completed in disguise, and he smiled brightly to see his work.

“No one will recognize you.” He said. “You’re safe.”

She looked down at her clothes now. It felt a bit strange to have the big jacket with her, and also glasses and hat, but she liked the idea. She didn’t feel that afraid again.

He added. “I’ve told you, you don’t need to be scared. I’ll protect you.”

She looked up at Minho, smiling back at him, and at last she nodded. Surprisingly, he took her hand and held it tight. Looking at their intertwined hands, she remembered that she hasn’t given any answer to Minho, about they started their relationship all over again. He didn’t ask about it again though, but she knew he was waiting for an answer. She was not sure about her feelings. She still thought that she still…

Never mind.

“I’m not that hungry now. Can we go to book store first?” Minho said as he opened the door with his free hand.

Taehyun came again to the office, which was a bad thing since the fans of his also came along. They even came 2 hours before Taehyun came with his assistants. They entered the office and saw through the glass wall the process of the recording. She suddenly felt a bit frightened and worried. Well, she still thought that the culprit was one of the girls. She took a look of them as they were busy looking at Taehyun. If she could judge how people behave by looking at their faces, she bet no one of the girls who would behave badly. But she couldn’t believe it anymore since she saw what they said to her days ago, and how they looked at her irritatingly. Oh, now they still stared at her with the same stare. They looked like they really hated her.

All those stares made her thinking to take Hanbin’s advice to tell the girls the truth.

But, she thought it was not necessary.

She got the feeling they would still hate her even if she told them the truth.

She was just too afraid.

What should she do?

“Noona!” she heard someone greeted her. She blinked many times to see someone waving at her from the door. Kim Jinhwan?

“Kim Jinhwan ssi, what are you doing here?” she asked as she walked up to him. Jinhwan just smiled and came inside the office. It was only her and Hanbin in the office. Hanbin looked a bit confused to see a stranger coming inside the office, but he didn’t say anything though.

“I bet Taehyun already left.” He said, not answering her question.

She nodded in response. “He left an hour ago.”

“I thought I would meet him here.” He said, slightly looked disappointed.

“You came here to meet Taehyun?” she concluded.

“Oh, no, noona.” He chuckled. “I’m in the middle of investigation.”

She looked a bit puzzled to hear his honest answer, meanwhile Hanbin was surprised to hear the word ‘investigation’. Hanbin didn’t make any single move from his seat though, he was still busy mixing. But she knew he heard everything.

She opened . “So, today you come here for…”

“Yeah.” Jinhwan cut her off and grinned. “Where’s Kang Seungyoon?” he asked. He pointed at Hanbin. “Is this Kang Seungyoon?” he whispered.

He guessed it wrong, again.

“Ah, h-he’s—“

“Why are you looking for me?” suddenly Seungyoon entered the room. He’s not alone, he was with Jinwoo. Jinwoo looked surprised to see Jinhwan here, but he of course knew why the police was here. Seungyoon didn’t give any sign that he was pleased to see Jinhwan here. He didn’t know who Jinhwan was for sure. Meanwhile, Jinhwan looked so happy, as if he met an old friend.

“Kang Seungyoon ssi, right? I need to talk to you.” That was what Jinhwan said later, getting an annoyed look from Seungyoon. She worriedly glanced at Seungyoon. She hoped he was okay with this investigation.

They were in a small restaurant in front of the office. Jinhwan didn’t ask Seungyoon questions straight away, and decided to enjoy his meal first.  It was lunch time anyway. It was a bit annoying, well, for Seungyoon. He didn’t get it why he was here, why Jinhwan needed to see him. She could see Seungyoon’s irritated look. She sighed. She wanted to say to Jinhwan to just question Seungyoon right away. Or else…

Seungyoon rose from his seat. “I’m leaving.”

She was shocked to see his action. But Seungyoon already walked away. Jinhwan was surprised too, and for some seconds, he stopped eating.

“I’ll talk to him.” She said to Jinhwan before rushing to the door.

“O-okay.” Jinhwan replied awkwardly.

“Seungyoon ssi, wait! Wait up!” she pulled the door open. He was already outside restaurant and was about to cross the street. She quickly held his hand. “Wait!”

“What?” Seungyoon stopped on his tracks and looked at her with an angry look.

“Why did you leave?” she asked him.

Seungyoon looked really angry as he replied,”Because suddenly I have to have lunch with a stranger who doesn’t say straight away about his business.” He blurted out. “I don’t know what I should do there, and I don’t know who he is.” He looked so angry, it was the same when she and he argued last time, when she accused Seungyoon as the one who pushed her.

“I-I’m sorry I haven’t told you about this,” she said and sighed,”please don’t get mad at me.”

Seungyoon still looked angry. “What are you talking about?”

“That case, you’ve seen me fallen to the stairs. Someone pushed me.” She saw Seungyoon furrowed eyebrows. She sighed.

“Ah, that case, you still think I’m the one who pushed you till you fell?” he replied annoyingly. He was still mad about this. He was about to leave once again but she held his hand even tighter.

“No, I-I’m sorry.” She sighed.

“What now?” he sounded really annoyed.

“I need your help.”

He stared at her. “My help?”

She let out a heavy sigh before said,“Someone has tried to kill me.”

“What?”

“There is someone who always sends me death threats, Seungyoon ssi, and it’s the same person. The one who pushed me and sent me death threats is the same person.”

Seungyoon looked totally confused. “What?”

She looked around worriedly, worried if anybody heard their conversation, or someone watching her from afar. “It’s true.” She replied.

“So, why do you want me to meet that man? Is it still related to me or what?” he asked with annoyed face. “I can’t help you.” He snorted.

“Yes, you can!” she said. “You can help me.” she added. “You’ve helped me at that time, remember? You can tell everything you see at that time to that man inside. Well, the man inside, he’s a police.” She glanced at the restaurant. “He’s investigating this case. And he will ask some questions to you. You just need to answer his questions.” She explained. “Please help me, Seungyoon ssi.”

It took some seconds, Seungyoon stared at her without saying anything. She thought he didn’t want to do this. If he really didn’t want to do it, what should she do? Even the little thing Seungyoon reported would be important to this investigation.

But she didn’t need to be that worried since, at last, he nodded. Even though he didn’t look that happy to agree the idea, she really appreciated it. She smiled slightly at him.

“Thank you.”

“Let’s do it fast. We still have some sessions after this.” Seungyoon said and walked inside the restaurant.