For some reason, Jongwoon felt rather uneasy in the last couple of days. He couldn’t put his finger on it just yet why he was on edge, but he knew it had to do with his partner. Ever since the day Jang WooHyuk had surprised the station with his sudden arrival the younger detective has been acting differently. He was spending more time looking at different cases and trying to find connections in them. And he wasn’t throwing any fits whenever the older would leave to go get coffee at Shinee. In fact he didn’t even bat an eye at him. And that was not like him at all. At first Jongwoon thought Kibum's change had to do with WooHyuk, but the younger detective assured him it was unrelated to the man. But he also seemed to want to avoid any conversation about the legendary detective as well. So Jongwoon was not sure if he believed him or not. There was something that was clearly on Kibum's mind, but for some reason he was not filling Jongwoon in on it. And while Jongwoon was glad that he could do his own thing without the younger breathing down his neck all the time, he was still rather concerned about this change.

As he sat as his desk he watched as Kibum had multiple files opened on his desk and were going through them all. Jongwoon had been staring at the other for almost ten minutes now and the other still hasn’t seem to notice. Jongwoon was tempted to continue to stare just to see how long it does actually take him to see it, but he was also dying of curiosity for what Kibum was so devoted too. So standing up he reached across their desks and grabbed one of the folders. Kibum's head shot up at it.

"Yah! What are you doing?" He shouted at him as he jumped to his feet.

"Oh calm your horses." Jongwoon snapped at him with a roll of his eyes. He turned his attention to the folder and glanced over the information. He raised an eyebrow at his partner. "Do I want to know why you are investigating EXO?"

"They were also involved with the murder case so I thought it would be a good place to go."

"True, but all of this information does not have to do with Sunglee or the murder case. This is all in regards to the information we have on this rookie gang. Why the sudden interest?"

Kibum shifted in his chair and Jongwoon narrowed his eyes at the movement. He threw the folder down on his desk and leaned across it to get closer to his partner.

"What are you not telling me Kibum. You have been acting rather odd lately and I am beginning to suspect it has to do with EXO. What gives?"

Kibum seemed determined to not make eye contact with him but Jongwoon would have none of it. He may be keeping some major secrets of his own but he did not need his partner doing the same. Especially on something as dangerous as following after a new gang. They already had their hands full with M and T. Does his partner think it’s a good idea to jump into the mess of another gang? As he scanned the man he began to think that yes, it was something Kibum was interested in doing. Sighing Jongwoon was debating in either interrogating his partner or letting the matter go when Kibum finally spoke.

"Yes, I am looking into EXO. Someone….of interest….said that the gang was someone we should be keeping a better eye on. And while I am not thrilled using this person's advice, it is also a bad idea to ignore it as well."

"Oh and this person of interest?"

"No one worth mentioning. Just for once they said something worth looking into." He waved his hand over the scatter folders. "And for good reason. I have been going over some of the most recent homicide cases as well as theft, arson, and other damages in the Seoul area for the last few months. There has definitely been an increase of incidents."

"And what does that have to do with EXO?" Jongwoon asked as he took his seat again.

"They are all happening in the same area. Actually the same radius of area." Kibum explained as he took his own seat.

He pulled out a map from the pile and showed it to Jongwoon. The older detective looked at it and noted the red marks Kibum had put on for each place there was an incident. The younger was on the right track it would seem. The attacks were around the same areas, and all seemed to be surrounding a private estate and park area. Jongwoon handed the map back.

"So you think these are all related to EXO? And that they are doing what exactly then?"

"I think they are creating their territory. And establishing themselves in the underworld." Kibum looked at his map. "I think this estate is their home base."

"I think you are right." Jongwoon agreed. "It is the center of their actions. If in fact all of these incidents are directly related to them. My question is what do you want to do now?"

"I haven't decided." Kibum admitted. "But I think we should keep a close eye on them. There are a lot of gangs out there and I would like to take them all down. But it might be best to just make sure none of them gain too much power to take over."

"We should just maintain the balance. That seems like a good idea. While having Yunho be on top may seem foolish, TVXQ as well as T and M at least hold up some morals."

"How does a gang have morals. Someone else said that to me recently and I just don’t buy it." Kibum scoffed.

"Simple, they have all the power they need and so they don’t need to cause any mayhem in order to get more. There was one time, not too long ago but for sure before you got here, that Yunho lost his cool on something. This upstart gang came in and were just tearing up the place. And they totally disregarded what the TVXQ man said. So he sent in his gang and just destroyed them. And not just the gang, but anyone or anything remotely connected to them. There were dead people all over the place, buildings on fire, totally destruction. We didn’t have the man power or resources to stop him. He could have easily burned Seoul to the ground. The only reason he didn’t was because of Donghae and Leeteuk."

"What did they do."

"They calmed him down. And made sure to get this gang that pissed him off was far, far away from him. I am not sure how they did it, but they pulled it off. Yunho calmed down and disappeared for a little bit to gather himself together. And placed Donghae and Leeteuk on a higher level to the other gangs. To get to Yunho, you had to take them down first. The tri-power control they have is practically untouchable. The only crack in this wall is the fact that Leeteuk and Donghae hate each other. So they don’t work well together."

"I remember hearing about this. My parents left Seoul and went to Busan until it calmed down." Kibum said as he leaned back. "But you make it sound like hell was on earth."

"It was." Jongwoon rubbed his eyes as he remembered the whole mess. He was still a rookie himself when it had happened. It nearly caused him to leave the force and run for the hills. But since he stayed he was placed in charge of T and M. To take them down was the main objective, but at the same time he was to make sure that they didn’t completely go off the deep end and cause the same mess that Yunho did. He felt that was why the TVXQ man came to him in regards to Shinee. But to explain that to Kibum was complicated. Not many in the force knows that he is responsible to keeping the balance.

"So basically T and M are the gatekeepers to TVXQ?" Kibum concluded to himself.

"In the simplest of senses yes."

"So if we take them down, what do you suppose happens?"

"To be honest I am not too sure. But I suspect that some of the other gangs will start getting restless and start attacking one another in order to get to that level. Yunho will be forced to either make some choices, or step in and take them out. It might cause a second wave of mayhem."

"Now I'm not too sure if I like being on the case with you."

Jongwoon had to chuckle. He was smart enough to realize this now. Maybe there was hope for this kid yet. But they needed to focus on the second matter.

"Right now we should focus on EXO. Let's figure out at least what their game plan is. If it's something worth getting involved with then we will. Otherwise we will move back to T and M. They are also involved with this mess."

Kibum nodded his agreement.

"But I still want to know why you suddenly took an interest in them. Who was your person of interest?"

"No one." Kibum grumbled stubbornly. He picked up a file and held it up to his face so Jongwoon couldn’t see it.

"Fine whatever." Jongwoon sighed and rolled his eyes. "At least look on the bright side."

"What?"

"As long as Donghae and Leeteuk hate each other we don’t have to actually worry about them for a while. We can focus on EXO without them being a major issue. They are strong but together those two gangs would be unstoppable."

"So in other words we should be thankful they are not working together?"

"Yes, and alliance between T and M will spell the downfall of anyone who gets in their way. I doubt even Yunho could handle them."