Title: SM-5 The Perfect Mystery 

Genre: Romance, Comedy, Mystery, Angst, Action 

Ratings: All ages 

Case #03: L o v e

Part 6

  ~~~

  “He did not have insomnia?”

  Automatically, Yoona had repeated the exact words that Kyuhyun had uttered. An immediate thought that ensued that one notion, was the assumption that she herself made, though slightly absurd – that Kyuhyun was irrevocably right. However, she was aware that he himself had made an assumption, and that perceptions were barely reliable. But then again, there was an inkling she had within herself, that even though he was yet to explain himself, his perception was right.

  “…There was something that Park Luna said – about the fact that she omitted his sleeping pills for a night and he had slept perfectly well. For a person with insomnia, or at least, severe insomnia, someone who took sleeping pills to the extent that he overdosed, one night of completely no sleeping pills would have a big effect on him.” Kyuhyun spoke subconsciously, buried deeply in his thoughts.

  Several new assumptions formed in Yoona’s mind. “True enough.”

  “And then again, with such a thought, if I put myself in Victoria’s shoes and try to think of what Park Leeteuk was thinking, at that point of time…” He felt he was moving at such an incredibly fast pace, that he himself was affected, for a moment, pausing to steady himself. “…There might have been a possibility that Park Leeteuk was under the assumption that he had consumed the sleeping pills.”

  Yoona began to get the gist of what Kyuhyun was trying to imply. “So what you’re saying is this – that all this time, his insomnia, his overdose, and us, were led on because of his assumptions?”

  “Consider it this way, Yoong. If he took sleeping pills out of will and not with the reason of true illness, then he would be able to sleep under any condition, with or without the sleeping pills.” Kyuhyun purged on, determined to give her a full explanation. “And if there was one night of which he assumed he had already taken it, but truthfully had not, what difference would it make, to him physically and mentally, whether he had truly consumed it or not?”

  And it was at that moment of which she was extremely sure that his notion was correct, as if his rhetorical question had given her a confirmation. There were many things in the world that were hidden from the views of others, and illnesses, they were entrusted to the care of doctors with the belief that the doctors would provide true prescriptions to treat it, and also, utter true words to the people who asked about it.

  “That means… all this time, his insomnia was a lie.” Yoona muttered softly, organizing her cluttered thoughts. “…And if his insomnia is a lie, then there’s one thing for sure – we’re not the only ones that know about it.”

  “Precisely.” Kyuhyun nodded in rapid agreement. “Such a simple, shallow lie would not be easily concealed from the eyes of medical professionals, and with such an inference, we can be sure that there’s one more thing standing between us and his lie.”

  “…If the patient lies, the doctor would know. And if the patient lies and the doctor permits it, the doctor would be adhering to the lie as well.” It was then that Yoona grasped the severity of the situation. “And that would mean…”

  “Yes, Lee Jinki himself is concealing Leeteuk’s lie.”

  For a moment, several possibilities had open up, slurring in Yoona’s mind. Throughout the case so far, there were quite a few times of which she had felt that she had reached a dead end and that the solution to the main problem, the answer to the mystery was almost impossible to uncover. However, it was at that moment that she found that the very answer, the very truth that she had been searching for lay within the lies of the suspects involved with the case.

  “It all makes sense, doesn’t it?” Kyuhyun posed the question with much self-satisfaction, seeing that his deep-thinking had come to fruition. “The facts and the testimonial that Lee Jinki had presented to us was all a fabrication.”

  “Then this would mean that Lee Jinki-“

  Kyuhyun held a hand to stop her, interrupting her before she could say another word. “…This fact would reinforce the fact that Lee Jinki is not the culprit that we’re searching for.”

  Yoona raised an eyebrow. “But why?”

  “Think about it this way – if he went to great lengths to fabricate a lie for his patient, he would be capable of many other more discreet methods of murder. Why would he stab his patient when he could just give the patient a lethal dosage and cover it all up as an overdose accident?” Kyuhyun mused. “…There would be no need to commit such a theatrical attack.”

  “Park Leeteuk overdosed on sleeping pills-“

  “No, he did that of his own accord.” Kyuhyun corrected her. “From this point onwards we must be wary of the fact that both Park Leeteuk and Lee Jinki concealed the truth – that Park Leeteuk does not have insomnia. A person who does not have insomnia yet consumes the sleeping pills at a regular basis, an overdose is bound to happen. And I’m sure both sides were well-prepared for that, and that’s why Park Leeteuk was taken to the hospital to recuperate.”

  Yoona blinked her eyes, confused for a moment. “But then, if Park Leeteuk consumed the sleeping pills for show, he didn’t have to consume it at home as well. He could pretend to consume it, instead of seriously consume it, at the same time hiding the lie that he had insomnia and thus the overdose would not have occurred.”

  “…That’s how we can reach the actual reason for their lie, Yoona.” Kyuhyun triumphed, as he found that they were both getting closer and closer to their required resolution. “From the fact that Park Leeteuk pretended to have insomnia yet took it so seriously as if he really had it, we can probably infer that one of his motives was to be able to be warded in the hospital.”

  “Why would he want to be warded?”

  “That’s something that we cannot assume. There could be several possibilities, and for one, we could begin with the rumor of him having an affair with Kim Hyorin, using the insomnia as an excuse to be able to meet up with her regularly in the hospital.”

  Yoona was aghast. “…For an affair, one would go to such great lengths?”

  “If we go and look at things from that direction, everything would fit.” Kyuhyun pointed out, as if it was all extremely obvious. “If they had affair, and since Kim Hyorin is the chairman of the board of the hospital, Lee Jinki would have to lie, so he could protect his job. And from here, we can assume that a crime of passion ensued.”

  “…Park Taeyeon?” Instinctively, Yoona uttered that one name.

  Kyuhyun gave her a sharp nod. “We could assume that it’s a crime of passion, of which Park Taeyeon discovered her husband’s infidelity and was enraged by it, thus stabbing both her husband and Kim Hyorin in a fit of rage.”

  Yoona became very much baffled, for a moment. “But you do realize that your notion has discrepancies, right? If it was a crime of passion, what is the involvement of Tiffany Hwang, Luna and Kim Ryeowook? These three figures are interlinked with the case as well, Kyuhyun, and it’s not a mere association.”

  “That’s why it’s only an assumption.” Kyuhyun enunciated his words. “However, in such a crime of passion, you’ll see that the only one that doesn’t fit is Luna – the girl who’s ever so innocent, but yet, has been pulled into the case by all sides. That, on its own, will be the toughest problem to unravel.”

  “…Or it could be simple, if we use the correct methods.”

  “Well, there’s only one way to verify all the assumptions we’ve made.”

  Yoona tilted her head to the side. “And I suppose that is….?”

  “We’ve got to get our hands on the data in Lee Jinki’s computer.”

~~~

  Her lips curved to a frown as she stared out of the window, her gaze inverted upon the murky sky that seemed to darken with each passing moment. Night was doubtlessly falling, and another day was about to end. Days had passed like running water for the past few weeks and she could not help but feel that the entire investigation was rather pointless, for the fact that only bare conclusions were derived, and a rock-hard foundation was yet to be built.

  Victoria leaned against her swivel chair, restlessly fiddling with her dark-blue fountain pen – a habit of hers that she often conformed to due to boredom and lethargy. She used to think that by joining a fast-paced police undercover team, she would have no time to feel lethargic. But it was during such moments of which she could not differentiate lethargy from frustration, and it was rather ridiculous, since there was such a vast difference between frustration and lethargy, complete polar opposites.

  At least, with this case, there were countless things that she could confidently say that she improved in. One would be the concept of waiting, the concept of being patient under all conditions. Evidence, truths, and of course, deductions, all needed an excessive amount of patience, and yes, excessive. For it was with patience, that she would be able to discover little loopholes that were not that visible at the start. But even though she kept herself optimized with such a theory, she could not help but to feel that it was rather useless to be optimistic at such times.

  “…Spacing out?” A familiar voice reached her ears, immediately perking her up.

  She threw a glance across the room, finding that Kyuhyun had made an entrance. “Not really, just considering a few things.” She replied, feeling rather exhausted. “We’ve done so much for this case and I can’t help but feel that our attempts are rather futile.”

  “Nothing can be categorized as futile until the results have truly reached us, Vic.” Kyuhyun responded brightly. “In fact, there is no such thing in this world as futile effort. It’s a matter of our own perceptions, in any case, whether our attempts are futile or not.”

  “Stop beating around the bush!” Victoria scoffed, heaving a tired sigh. “I’m stressed enough as things are. Minho’s doing his own investigations, Changmin insists that he will keep watch on the suspects’ movements – whether they’re really doing what they’ve promised to do is another question altogether, and I’m too beat to actually go and nag them about it.”

  Kyuhyun chuckled, amused by the way she seemed to be intimidated, at the same time she herself was hardly sure about what she was intimidated about. “And yourself? You’re actually sitting here and doing the paperwork? That’s a nice change.” His words were heavily tinted with sarcasm, in an attempt to add humor into their conversation.

  “Don’t be such a twit, Kyuhyun.” Victoria glowered at him. “I do a lot of paperwork; it’s just that you’re completely blind to the effort put in by everyone other than yourself. What can I say – you’re the life of all the inanimate objects in the office.” Victoria was equally witty. “…I’m sure they worship you as much as you worship them.”

  “Ha-ha funny.” Kyuhyun spat out words which were heavily loaded with sarcasm once more. “I do good paperwork, Victoria Song, you’re just envious that the keyboard, the printer and the photocopier loves me a lot more than they love you.”

  Victoria let out an entertained chortle. “I’d prefer having actually living organisms love me, rather than inanimate objects, thank you very much.”

  “You should make friends with bacteria and fungi – they’ll be your greatest friends.”

  “Cho Kyuhyun!” Victoria yelled in exasperation, as she watched Kyuhyun snicker. “Can’t you find better people to tease at this moment? Or at least, find something more worthwhile to do? Can’t you stick your head in your and get a freaking life?!”

  “Miss Song has a potty mouth…” Kyuhyun smirked devilishly.

  “Gawd, you are such a thick-headed pig-brain.” She groaned in agitation, rubbing her eyes roughly as she stood up, stretching her arms. “Weren’t you supposed to be doing investigations? Why aren’t you working on data analysis? Now we’ve got quite a lot of evidence to re-analyze, you know?”

  “And you’ll be getting more soon.” The smirk remained on his face, even as Victoria’s eyes seemed to bulge out of her sockets.

  She could barely contain her surprise. “Is that supposed to be good news, or bad news?” Before he could reply, she held out a hand. “-and no, do not give me an ‘in between’ answer, because I’m so damn sick of that and if you do, I will make sure that your head does end up in your .”

  Kyuhyun just kept his smile, shifting his gaze away from her. “Well, that’s up to you to judge. To me it is good news, but to you and your new campaign to do more paperwork, I wonder whether you find it a positive thing to have more evidence.” His words were clever, and Victoria could only sigh in defeat.

  Victoria gave him a dry look. “Fine, your is saved – why are we going to have more evidence?”

  “Because Park Leeteuk doesn’t have insomnia.”

  “…Is that just another one of your crazy assumptions or are you seriously serious?” Victoria was unfazed, despite hearing the supposedly surprising news.

  “I’m not a mad scientist, Victoria, I’m a research geek. Mad scientists have fuzzy hair, nutty glasses and half the time they look as though they’re mental hospital patients. I repeat, stop making me sound like one.” Kyuhyun put emphasis on his humorous words, purposefully stalling time.

  Victoria was not amused. “Please don’t tell me you sent Yoona out to verify your idiotic assumptions once more…”

  “Number one – my assumptions are not idiotic. Number two – I didn’t send her out, but rather, she offered. And number three – why do you always guess things before I tell you the full details?”

  He ducked as she nearly whacked his head. “Oh for gawd’s sake, Kyu! I’m having a lot of trouble with Minho as it is, and now you let Yoona roam around freely? If Minho were to hear about this, you’ll end up with a nicely broken nose, and maybe if he’s merciful, you’ll get your ribs broken and that’s it.”

  “This could be a very important piece of evidence for our investigations, Victoria.” Kyuhyun said defensively. “People who do paperwork should not question a genius’s plans.” He said mockingly.

  And that just earned him a good and hard whack, and this time, Victoria did not miss. “You are going to give me brain concussion! Why do you keep bullying them? They’re not kids!” Feeling exasperated, she took a seat. “…Why can’t you be nicer to your partner?”

  “Yoona isn’t my partner.”

  “Oh really? You’re being cruel, then.”

  “Aren’t you satisfied?”

  Despite the fact that she didn’t reply, he couldn’t help but hope, only slightly, that she was. And that lingering hope that he had within him, he would deny it later on, he knew, but for the moment, he let it hover. And that was the closest to being humane as he ever was going to be.

  …Or so he thought.

~~~

  She crept, ducking her head and hiding in front of the counter as she saw the receptionist glance upwards. With her fingertips touching the ground and her breathing being halted, just for a moment, she prayed that she would not make another sound. Silently, barely audibly, she counted to ten, steadying herself before she felt the cold marble ground underneath her palms once more, as she inched way from the counter, bit by bit, hoping that she would creep away unnoticed.

  Grateful that she was wearing her dark canvas shoes, she practically crawled through the corridor, taking slow and steady steps, which she hoped were exceptionally quiet as well. She crawled, and she crawled, being closer to the ground than she was to the ceiling, with her arms sprawled on the ground, all the way until she was sure that there was no one, and therewould be no one.

  She reached into her pocket, pulling out a sequined black hair band, a little something she had bought for herself when she had walked through the night market on her way home several days ago. It was nothing expensive, just something that she could use on a daily basis. She was fond of simplicity, or rather whether she was fond of simplicity or not, throughout her life she had been forced to conform and adapt to living in simple conditions.

  She slowly raised her head, taking a quick look to her left and to her right, before standing up. She swept her short, barely-shoulder-length bronze curls into a high ponytail, letting a few loose strands fall to the edges of her face. For the moment, it didn’t matter how she looked. In fact, throughout her life, appearance was not of the issue. And especially at such a moment, of which her five senses had been piqued to commit herself to the one job she was supposed to do for Kyuhyun, she could care less about her appearance.

  She was especially cautious, walking in the shadows and ensuring that not a single ray of light had splayed itself upon her. Light, when obscured, caused shadows, and she would rather to be a part of the shadows rather than to cause them. Her visit to the hospital was not to walk in the light but rather to find the light, in a literal sense, to find the truth to everything.

  Scanning the name plates on the doors as she squinted her eyes, she ensured that she was vigilant, wary of her surroundings. She had lived in a world of which danger lurked at every corner, and she always had to keep one eye open, even in her sleep. If she could not even