Title: SM-5 The Perfect Mystery 

Genre: Romance, Comedy, Mystery, Angst, Action 

Ratings: All ages 

Case #02: M e m o r i e s

Part 10

  ~~~

  / Level 2, there’s an office exactly fourteen steps down the corridor, a small office. Enter and search around for any photograph you can find. It’ll help. /

~~~

  “Remind me, Vic, why are we doing this?”

  Minho had kept up with the same question ever since the two of them had stepped into the office. It was near the dead of the night and he saw no reason to be wandering around an almost-empty building, but Victoria, on the other hand, was determined to find something, something that Minho was yet to find out.

  “I’ve told you for the billionth time, Minho!” Victoria said in frustration as they walked down the corridor. “Kris Wu sent me this message, and I think it means something.”

  “Isn’t he clear of being the suspect now?” Minho purged on. “Shouldn’t we just-“

  “Keep quiet, Minho, just keep quiet.”

  The both of them found themselves standing in front of a tall, white door. Gingerly, Victoria stretched out her arm and reached towards the knob, turning it slowly and pushing the door open. The door swung backwards, only to reveal a small office consisting of very few tables. The lights were off and there wasn’t a soul to be seen. Victoria took the initiative, flicking the switch next to the door, and in an instant, the room was brightened up by the fluorescent lights, however, the quiet atmosphere had not been changed.

  Minho broke the silence. “…What are we looking for?”

  “A photograph.” Victoria answered as she began to look around.

  “Just a photograph? No description, no details?”

  “Minho, if there was a detail to this message, I wouldn’t have personally come here to find it.”

  Victoria’s gruff reply sent a zip right over Minho’s mouth, preventing him from saying another word. Her eyes wandered around the room, over every desk, over every nook and cranny, over ever shelf, cupboard, drawer. She knew there was no time to rummage through all of them, no time to look through each and every one slowly and carefully, or to actually be able to try and comprehend the contents of that message-

  “Vic, you’ve got to see this.”

  She spun around as she heard Minho’s voice, seeing him grip a photo frame in his hands. She rushed over to him, grabbing the frame from his palms and staring at the photograph herself. She gaped in surprise, slowly trying to place her thoughts together. Every single small detail of everything she had tried to understand, she put it all together, putting everything into place.

  “…So that was why.”

~~~

  He shut his cellphone with a small sigh as he leaned against his car, gazing over to look at the dark night sky. The night that had overshadowed the entire city, it had fogged up much of his thoughts, the same way it had clouded, loomed over much of his life. As dark as he thought many parts of his life was, in the end he kept trying to search for brightness. It was so difficult, to find that one street lamp that would brighten that dark life of his, but the moment she stepped in, instead of trying to brighten in his life he found a need to try to bring a bit more light into her already-lit up life.

  He didn’t know what he was doing, or what he was trying to do. He usually never involved himself with such things, even things he could help, or try to make better, he never did try. But then, it was like he was running around every corner of his mind just to provide an answer to the entire case, and he could not understand why. He had already promised himself to never set one foot near to her until he fulfilled the task he had to fulfill, but in the end he kept finding his way back to her.

  His life centered so much on her, which scared him yet she was the only thing he yearned for in his life.

  A pattering of footsteps startled him, jolting him out of his thoughts as he stood up straight. Her face was flushed red, panting heavily as she ran towards him. For the first time in a long time, he found himself anxiously watching her expression, worry overcoming every single muscle in his body.

  “I’ve warned Changmin about everything. He’ll alert Minho, Victoria and Kyuhyun.” Yoona was still puffing. “…I need to go, thank you, but I need to go. I think I can solve everything on my own- no, with the team now, you don’t have to-“

  “I’m coming with you.” His answer was immediate.

  “No you’re not.” Yoona said firmly. “You’re not coming, I’m grateful to you as it is but I don’t need you to come or to continue to take care of me in any way. We’re not on the same side, Kris Wu, and I think, now’s not the time to negotiate and come to a compromise. Not now, there’s a person’s life on stake now, and I need to go save that life.”

  He held her arm, stopping her from running any further. “It doesn’t matter which side we’re both on. The life that is on stake, I’m going to help you save that life.”

  “I can take care of myself-“

  “No.” He glared into her eyes. “… You can’t.”

~~~

/ Kyuhyun, I’m going to need guns. Get three, and make sure they’re loaded. /

/ Victoria, what are you- /

/ We’re going to close the case. /

~~~

  “Kang Jiyoung’s apartment?”

  Kris raised his eyebrows at Yoona as the both of them dashed up the staircase. But Yoona was sure, she was so sure that she was running in the right direction, at the correct suspect. She knew that this person was guilty of the murders that took place during the past few weeks, and she needed to bring justice to the two who were murdered.

  “I’m sure.” Yoona heaved as they stood in front of a door. “Kang Jiyoung’s words, the way she spoke to Changmin, I think there’s a possibility that Chanyeol was protecting her. Or else, how would she have been able to capture his heart so entirely, to a point that he did such things for her?” 

  “Yoona, you can’t just-“

  “Keep quiet or we’ll both be found out.” Yoona warned.

  Kris shook his head as he looked at her. “Fine, on the count of three we’re going to kick the door open. Keep your hands on your gun, and point it and whatever human you see when you enter.”

  “What? Isn’t that too sudden? We’re supposed to knock and not-“

  “Three…”

  “Kris, stop-“

  “Two…”

  Yoona was quick to react, and before Kris could even count to one she jumped and threw  kick, aiming straight at the middle of the door, going at it at full force. In one full-power kick, the door was kicked down, falling with a loud crash. Startled screams and yells were heard from the interior of the apartment, and Kris immediately raised his gun, the both of them walking right through the doorway.

  Their eyes fell upon two people, a girl with big eyes and dark hair, a surprised expression on her face, and the other a girl with dark blonde hair and a pretty smile. The both of them were equally shocked, still sitting near the living room table.

  “Don’t move!” Yoona ordered warningly.

  Suzy stood up, her eyes widening. “Yoona-shi… why are you here?”

  “To catch the murderer.” Yoona said, through gritted teeth, still pointing her gun, then changing her direction straight to Jiyoung. “…Kang Jiyoung, it was you, wasn’t it? The person who killed Krystal Jung, the person who killed Park Jiyeon, the person who nearly killed Suzy, the person who framed Minho, Sulli and Kris?”

  Kris was right next to Yoona, holding up his gun as well, at a loss of words to say. “Yoona, you know-“

  But Yoona didn’t hear him. “You were in love with Minho, no, did you hold a grudge on him? Or did you hold a grudge on the victims? Why did you have to take their lives away? Why?”

  Jiyoung was speechless, and Yoona’s grip on her gun tightened. Just as she was about to step forward and continue to accuse-

  “She’s not the killer.”

  They were interrupted by a thundering of footsteps, as four other figures entered the room, all armed with guns. Standing right in front was Victoria, a confident, yet serious look upon her face as she directed her gunpoint at who she presumed, was the killer. Victoria and Kyuhyun moved past Yoona, both of them pointing their guns at that one person…

  “Bae Suzy… You’re the murderer.” The words escaped Kyuhyun’s lips.

  Yoona latched her eyes on him. “…What?”

  “Wha-wha-what? How could I be the killer?” Suzy denied it effortlessly.

  “…It was a clever act you put up, Suzy-shi.” Victoria took the lead. “From the start until the end, the entire thing was under your manipulation, to the point that every suspect, every main suspect we had except Kris Wu made an effort to protect you…” Victoria reached into her bag and raised a photograph. “…If only Chanyeol hadn’t kept your graduation photo on his table.”

  “I…I…” Suzy was silenced.

  “Chanyeol’s only motive was to take the photographs and pretend to be Jiyeon’s stalker, because you told him to, just in case Jiyeon met Minho. And not just Jiyeon, Krystal as well, only, Chanyeol was not able to catch Krystal meeting Minho before her death.” Victoria stated. “You also got them all to borrow money, because you knew about both Krystal and Jiyeon’s backgrounds, and how they needed money… You got them into debt and dragged in another possible person you could frame, Chanyeol’s boss – Kris Wu.”

  It was Kyuhyun who spoke next. “Park Chanyeol followed your every whim and you used it to your advantage. You cleared up every little bit of evidence by using the things that could be used to frame everyone else – the vitamin bottles from Kris Wu’s office, which Chanyeol could have easily taken, and Sulli’s ribbon to cover up for yourself, setting a possible attack and clearing yourself off the list.”

  “But Park Chanyeol didn’t know everything.” Victoria remembered. “…He didn’t murder any one of them, because he didn’t know how you had gotten in. You had chosen the right timings, and you had went in through the air vents, to kill them. You gave Krystal tea with potassium cyanide, whilst Jiyeon had coffee at the café. And it was also you…you who tore the letter out of Jiyeon’s diary, wasn’t it?”

  “Jiyoung-shi, you just found out about this, didn’t you?” Changmin turned to look at Jiyoung. “You were the person in the middle of the clique, but you protected Suzy until the very end. But you… you were the one who took Sulli’s ribbon.”

  Jiyoung bit her lip. “…It was… Suzy asked me for Sulli’s ribbon and I didn’t know why she wanted it, so I took it from Sulli and gave it to Suzy… Then I found… I found out that it was Suzy who staged it and I…”

  “Jiyoung.” Suzy gave her a warning glare. “…Stop it. It was Chanyeol who gave them the poison and not me, him who gave them the potassium cyanide and-”

  “Jiyoung didn’t say a word to us about you… She came here first to question the truth from you and I’d bet Chanyeol… Chanyeol-“ Yoona was about to say, before she stopped. “But why…? Why would you kill them, and why would you try and direct everything to Minho?”

  Suzy hesitated, but she looked up, with tears in her eyes.

  “…They all knew.” She murmured.

  “Huh?”

  “They all knew!” She cried out in anguish. “…Jiyeon, Krystal, Sulli… They all knew about my feelings for Minho-sunbae…no, Minho-oppa. And they never cared or did anything but they provoked me further… Jiyeon dated him on purpose to show me how she was above me and Krystal… Krystal was the one who met up with him all the time then ran to Taemin, as if to purposely say that I was the only one who couldn’t…who couldn’t get him…And Sulli purposefully never introduced me to her brother, even when we were all standing in front of him. She’d just never say my name…as if I didn’t exist…”

  Yoona gaped. “So Sulli was your next target? But why…Just for such a reason, for such a reason you killed them all?”

  “No!” Suzy yelled. “It was never me… It just was never me. I always had to stand behind everyone else for everything… Even though I had a good background it was useless. Minho never paid me any attention… All my friends just used me as a status symbol… That’s it, that’s it. I was frustrated with it… I was alone, always, truthfully… I wanted… I wanted them to be gone so I could start anew on my own… With Jiyeon gone, with Krystal gone, and with Minho pushed forward as the murderer… I could go ahead and just…just…” Suzy sobbed, dropping to her knees.

  Yoona lowered her gun as she saw Suzy shed tears, and she stepped forward, slowly, not afraid at all. Victoria tried to reach forward, to stop Yoona, but Changmin placed a hand on Victoria’s shoulder, a sign of comfort, and the rest just watched as Yoona went ahead, doing what she thought was right.

  “Suzy-shi, I don’t know, I really don’t know about Jiyeon and Krystal, I don’t know to what extent they had hurt you…but what I do know is…” Yoona took a deep breath as she crouched down. “…You were never alone.”

  Suzy raised her head. “Huh?”

  “Jiyoung… Jiyoung never told us it was you, to such a point that when I came here I thought she was the murderer.” Yoona felt slightly shamed by her mistake, but she continued on anyway. “And maybe Sulli, though you had tried to frame Sulli and Jiyoung-shi knew about it… Whether the other three in the clique were your true friends or not… Jiyoung-shi was the one who protected you until now.”

  “…I…” Suzy couldn’t say a word.

  Yoona’s tone was gentle and soft. “And Chanyeol… Chanyeol… This might be just a guess but that day, that day Park Jiyeon was given the potassium cyanide in the café, it was you, wasn’t it? Even though you had told Chanyeol to give the potassium cyanide to Jiyeon, I know… he’s not that sort of person, he would be able to stalk Jiyeon but he wouldn’t be able to poison her or kill her… so you did it.” Yoona paused. “…All Chanyeol did was set up that mobile hacking programme for you, and take photos, and you wanted to push him further so you asked him to give the potassium cyanide to Krystal and Jiyeon… With Jiyeon, he couldn’t do it, and with Krystal… The plan backfired.”  

  Victoria eyes were transfixed on Yoona. “…Yoona, what do you mean?”

  It was then that Kyuhyun realized. “…That day Krystal Jung went home early. The timing was wrong and Chanyeol couldn’t give her the poison, probably because he wasn’t mentally prepared either. And that’s why Krystal Jung’s murder was committed at an earlier timing – she died at 9pm, and Park Jiyeon’s death timing the day before was at 11pm. That’s also why the message sent by Chanyeol, using the mobile programme to Minho’s handphone… was sent after Krystal’s death, according to what was originally planned, before the plan backfired when Krystal returned home early.”

  Yoona nodded slowly. “…But that’s…that’s not all.” She gazed over at Suzy, whilst recalling Chanyeol’s words. “Chanyeol once tol