Title: SM-5 The Perfect Mystery 

Genre: Romance, Comedy, Mystery, Angst, Action 

Ratings: All ages 

Case #01: V o i c e

Part 2

~~~ 

  “I still don’t know why you consented to take me home.”

  She frowned as she walked by his side, with him smiling gently at her. The day’s events had somewhat startled them both, and as night fell, she had soon found herself with an to walk her home from the SMP, since she had bluntly refused to be driven home in his car.

  Minho chuckled in a carefree manner. “Well, it is dangerous for a girl to be going home alone at night-”

  “Don’t be charming.” She interrupted. “I really don't like it.”

  He paused for a moment – he had never met a girl who was so unresponsive to his charms. He’d helped her from a tight situation when they discovered the victim, he’d tried to be nice to her at the office, and he’d kindly offered to walk her home, but she had still retained her cold demeanor.

  “Then what do you like?” He tried once more.

  “I don’t think you really have to know about that.” Her answer was brisk.

  He took a deep breath. “Then what should I know?”

  “Nothing.”

  “’Nothing’ is not an answer.”

  “It is.”

  He felt somewhat frustrated. “Do you dislike me, Yoona-shi?”

  She looked at him with her big, doe-like eyes. “I’m irritated by your demeanor.”

  “Why?”

  “There’s so many things about you.” She sighed deeply. “Like why you were present in the elevator, why we’re in the same team, and why we’re paired up to conduct the evidence analysis, there just seems to be something fishy in it all.”

  He bit his lip. “There’s nothing, really. But besides that, why?”

  “I don’t know, I just don’t like you, so stay away from me. It’s just one case, we have to prove our innocence since we were both the ones who discovered the crime scene and thus are possible suspects.” She shrugged lightly. “Once it’s all over, we don’t really have to talk anymore, right?”

  He was taken aback by her casual manner of saying such harsh words. He’d thought she was strong, from the moment he saw her, but it turned out even worse than he had expected. Throughout his life, he was used to being worshipped by girls, loved and cared for by girls, but what the heck – disliked by one? It was new to him.

  “You’re such a little brat.” He couldn’t help it, but laugh as he said those words.

  “And you’re a big fat moron.”

  As much as their first encounter was somewhat unexpected and coincidental, though their first few words towards each other weren’t as sweet as it could have been, and as much as their characters contrasted completely, that day, a very unlikely friendship was born.

~~~

  “Alright team, meeting’s on.”

  All four scurried into the meeting room as Changmin came into the office from his main office, carrying all the materials they had been preparing for the past one hour – except for Minho, who had just arrived wearing his shoes on the wrong side, and his shirt un-tucked. Kyuhyun stood up the moment the lights of the meeting room were switched on and the victim’s profile flashed on the large screen.

  “The victim’s name was Kim Jonghyun, rookie singer who was about to make his debut from Star Entertainment. He was strangled to death, and his approximate time of death was eight-thirty in the morning.” Kyuhyun began as he said out what he memorized. “His debut song was supposed to be entitled “Ice Princess”, sung alongside Jessica Jung, his fellow colleague. Star Entertainment was found by Park Seonghwa, who has an only daughter, Park Hyomin, currently dating idol Lee Joon.”

  Yoona’s eyes widened. “You memorized it all?”

  “Of course.” Kyuhyun smirked. “After all, I am a –“

  “A person with a photographic memory.” Victoria cut him off, chuckling as he frowned.

  Changmin was impatient. “And other information? How about his love life? Family?”

  “He was the only child, had worked his whole life to become a singer.” Kyuhyun continued carefully. “After several interviews, it seemed like he was dating actress Shin Sekyung from the same label as well. He was said to have a carefree and kind personality, and was very sociable with his peers.”

  “How about the rope? What’s the note from forensics?”

  “Like Yoona and Minho have suggested, traces of Jonghyun’s skin cells wasn’t found on the rope at all, except the part that he held in his hands.” Kyuhyun shot Yoona a smile as she returned it, causing Minho to frown. “However, we sent all the wires for lab analysis as well, but traces of his skin cells did not turn up on any of the wires. Traces of the rope were found on his palms, but only slightly, which can be inferred that he had not gripped tightly on it; however, there were no traces of the rope around the victim’s neck.” He paused for a moment. “However, there were also none of the attacker’s skin cells under Jonghyun’s fingernails.”

  Victoria nodded wearily. “Jonghyun didn’t claw the attacker when he was being murdered, yet he struggled on his own…I wonder why?”

  Minho raised a skeptical eyebrow. “The murder weapon is missing?”

  “Supposedly so.” Kyuhyun shrugged.

  “Room analysis.” Changmin questioned.

  “The studio only had the interior studio, and no windows. There is one door leading to the exterior studio from the main corridor, and one door leading to the interior studio from the exterior studio itself. The main door leading to the exterior studio was locked; however the door to the interior studio was left unlocked.”

  Changmin pondered over it. “How did the murderer enter, and how did he escape?”

  Kyuhyun shrugged once more. “That is unknown.” Then he seemed to remember something more as he looked at the other four seriously. “But something strange was found – the fingerprints of the person who touched the inside doorknob of the exterior door last belong to Kim Jonghyun.”

  “But then at the same time, it is a very strange case, is it not?” Victoria stood up slowly. “The murderer locks the exterior door, but not the interior. The murderer leaves a weapon, but at the same time, it was not the murder weapon. And last, it seems that Kim Jonghyun had locked the door from the inside of the exterior studio himself.”

  “This means…?” Changmin was completely lost.

  “Kyuhyun, was there any fingerprints found on the inside and outside doorknobs of the interior door?” Victoria asked as she flipped through her notes.

  Kyuhyun shook his head. “No, no fingerprints found…it might have been cleaned off by the murderer.”

  “Security cameras?”

  “For some reason, the security cameras were not working that morning.”

  Victoria folded her arms. “Everything seems to be so coincidental, and except for the fact that there were no rope traces around the victim’s neck, and there were no traces of the victim’s skin cells on the rope.”

  Yoona raised her hand. “Could I say something?”

  “Go ahead.” Victoria gestured.

  “Kyuhyun said something about traces of the rope on the table…were there any traces of human skin cells on the rope itself?” Yoona asked carefully.

  “Nope.” Kyuhyun recalled. “No traces.”

  “The murderer has covered his tracks carefully.” Victoria said sharply. “The murderer is a methodical person, and yes, when he had entered the studio, he had an intention to kill. However, he must have been a trusted friend of Kim Jonghyun’s, for the Kim Jonghyun to let him in so easily and lock the door himself. He must have been working inside the company himself, to be able to access the security cameras.”

  Changmin nodded. “That narrows down the suspects a bit.”

  “But…” Victoria sat down, beginning to think. “There was a possibility that the victim might have found out about the murderer’s intention to kill, as the murderer did not even use the weapon found at the scene to kill the victim. But after he killed the victim, he was horrified because he remembered that he had not used the correct weapon.”

  “So in other words, the murderer tried to make it look like a suicide by leaving the rope in the victim’s palms and pocketing the murder weapon itself?” Minho was slightly bewildered. “But how could he have gotten out if the exterior door was locked?”

  Victoria shrugged lightly. “That’s the question we have to figure out.”

  “Alright team, we have to investigate a few things.” Changmin stood up, coming to a conclusion on his own. “Yoona and Minho, interview the staff of Star Entertainment, including all the idols, and try looking at the crime scene once more. Victoria and Kyuhyun, both of you analyze the information from Yoona and Minho.” He took a deep breath. “I’ll be having a word with the President of Star Entertainment.”

  As the team nodded and began to shuffle out, they all suppressed their sighs.

  It was going to be one difficult case.

~~~

  “Good afternoon, we’re from the Seoul Metropolitan Police and we’re here to investigate the death of Kim Jonghyun. We seek your co-operation in coming over to the station for a few questions.” Yoona’s introduction was clear-cut and straight to the point, leaving Minho feeling like a moron standing behind her.

  The staff was wide-eyed as they looked at each other in surprise, and several of the idols and trainees gaped, making loud and overreactive noises. A stunning lady with gleaming bronze-brown hair stepped forward with a welcoming look on her face, accompanied by a brooding man with angular facial features, giving him a rather sharp look.

  “I’m Jessica Jung; I’m the singer who was supposed to sing Jonghyun’s debut song with him.” She said softly as she held out her hand. “I’m very grateful that the police are making effort to investigate his death, Jonghyun was a very dear friend of mine.”

  “We will do our best.” Yoona returned her with a warm smile, as she shook her hand.

  / Facial expressions, Min? /

  Victoria’s voice popped up from the earpiece in Minho’s ear, giving him a shock as he lowered the volume, since he had almost forgotten the earpieces that connected Minho and Yoona to Kyuhyun and Victoria, who were monitoring Yoona and Minho through earpieces and mini-cameras attached on their clothing.

  “Can’t you see from the camera?” Minho snapped back, trying to be as silent as possible.

/ It’s description training, you idiot. /

  “Oh well, she looks very welcoming, but she has red eyes.” He whispered in annoyance. “Her nose is slightly red; her make-up doesn’t appear to be thick. Possible signs that she was crying.”

  Yoona elbowed Minho to tell him to whisper more quietly, having heard every word he said due to her sensitive hearing sense. “Miss Jung, could you tell us about Jonghyun-shi? Like, did he have any grudges, any recent problems?” She inhaled slowly. “…or, was he the type that would commit suicide?”

  “I wouldn’t know that…” Jessica murmured slowly, her voice coming out as a croak. “I mean, he was such a good friend, such a-“ She suddenly burst into tears, leaning on the man behind her for support.

  The man offered her his arm. “I’m so sorry, but I think you should exempt Jessica from the interview today…” He said gently. “She’s been very upset about Jonghyun’s death.”

  “You are?” Minho took the chance to step forward.

  “Lee Joon, idol star.” The man said clearly.

  / Yoona, any signs? /

  It was Kyuhyun’s voice that came up in Yoona’s earpiece. “Stoic, rather expressionless, deep eyes, but he looks quite kind. He’s supporting Jessica quite well. Not very suspicious, but worth keeping a hold onto.”

  “Do you know any problems that Jonghyun-shi might have had?” Minho questioned.

  Joon shrugged neutrally. “Not really, everything was going pretty well from him.” Then he remembered. “Oh right, I think he had some problems with his girlfriend recently, saw them quarrelling a few days ago.”

  Yoona raised an eyebrow. “He had relationship problems?”

  “Probably, since Sekyung’s quite headstrong.”

~~~

  “Name – Shin Sekyung. Occupation – actress. Age – 23. Agency-“

  “Look mister, I didn’t kill my boyfriend!” The girl shrieked in livid anger. “He might have just killed himself, okay?! Or he might have been killed for gawd-knows-what reason, but I have absolutely no reason to want to kill him, gosh.”<