Title: SM-5 The Perfect Mystery 

Genre: Romance, Comedy, Mystery, Angst, Action 

Ratings: All ages 

Case #01: V o i c e

Part 4

~~~ 

  “We’re back!”

  Minho yelled loudly as the both of them scampered into the office, to see the Victoria anxiously pacing back and forth about the room, Changmin worriedly sitting at the table with his hands wrung together, and Kyuhyun typing on the computer. Victoria sighed in relief as she saw them come along, her expression breaking into a smile as she came towards them.

  “Thank goodness you both arrived in time.” Victoria smiled as she rushed over. “They’re bringing Shin Sekyung and Rain over to the office, and they’ll be here in a while.”

  Yoona’s eyes widened. “What’s going on?”

  “There was a scandal over the internet – someone posted up some pictures of Shin Sekyung and the singer-actor Rain online, and the entire media picked up speed.” She placed a photograph in front of them. “It was taken three days ago, a day after the murder of Kim Jonghyun.”

  A troubled expression formed on Minho’s face. “Shin Sekyung is the killer?”

  “We don’t know that yet.” Victoria seemed to be driven into a frenzy as she toyed with her long hair. “But we’re this close to solving the case and it’s possible that there was something in all of this to do with Shin Sekyung…” 

  “And I’ve also got a witness testimony that Sekyung and Jonghyun had a quarrel the day before.” Kyuhyun added as he typed away on the computer. “There’s no clear evidence of what they were fighting about, but they definitely had relationship problems.” He chortled. “I think we might just nail the killer.”

  Yoona shook her head. “We’ve got new evidence from the crime scene.”

  It was Kyuhyun who turned his head this time. “What new evidence? What more evidence could there be?”

  “There’s a song recorded in the recorder of the main studio.” Yoona pulled out her cell phone, and plugged in her earphones, handing it to Kyuhyun. “Listen to track one and you’ll hear the part I recorded from there.” She was confident, as Kyuhyun began to listen to it. “Kim Jonghyun had changed the lyrics from ‘Ella’ to ‘Sica’. It was recorded on the morning he died, at 6.30am.”

  Victoria’s expression changed. “Oh .”

  “What?” Minho looked over.

  “I was predicting Shin Sekyung had something to do with this all, or even Jessica Jung. But since there’s this song…a lot of amendments must be made when we question her today.” She thought carefully.

  “Do you still want me to question today?” Minho offered.

  “No.” She shook her head. “She’s caught with evidence that she might be having a relationship with Rain, and we won’t need your charm.” She turned around. “Kyuhyun, we’re going to need you to question today.”

  Kyuhyun gave her a skeptical look. “Seriously?”

  “Yes, we need to crack Shin Sekyung. We crack her, we get the answer.”

  Yoona flopped on her chair with a sigh. “Only one question – how?”

~~~

  “Miss Shin, it looks like you’re back again.”

  Kyuhyun’s first line attacked Sekyung immediately, straight-forward and harsh, as if to imply that she was surely the criminal, in one way or another. With both Victoria and Kyuhyun sitting right in front of her, with a laptop and several folders of evidence, Sekyung was almost petrified by the entire effect of it all.

  Minho nearly clapped at the back room. “You’ve got to hand it to Kyuhyun, he really makes the whole thing just-“

  “Shut up and listen.” Yoona snapped, having her eyes glued to the scene in front of them.

  “Yes, yes, your highness.” Minho chuckled as he , earning him a sharp smack on the shoulder.

  “I didn’t kill him, I swear I didn’t!” Sekyung shook her head. “I would never kill Jonghyun, I would never-“

  Victoria placed several pictures on the table. “Shin Sekyung-shi, you were sighted going out with Rain, a fellow actor, over the past few days. These pictures are proof. And also…we have witnesses claiming you had a quarrel with Jonghyun a day before his death.” She leaned forward, with a menacing smile. “Do you have anything to say about that?”

  Sekyung fell silent, quietly fidgeting with her palms. “I…”

  “Miss Shin, though we have no hardcore evidence that you’ve killed Kim Jonghyun, this evidence is enough to convict you for the moment being.” Kyuhyun’s tone was rather light, making Sekyung even more scared. “If you have nothing to hide, you might as well give us your alibi, because so far, we haven’t managed to secure an alibi from you yet.”

  “Oh no, no, no…” Victoria said sarcastically, with her equally casual tone. “No alibi, evidence, you can actually be sent to the court with this right away. Was it love, Shin Sekyung-shi? Love, that made you kill your innocent boyfriend?”

  Sekyung wrung her hands together. “I never killed him.”

  “Then we need conclusive evidence that you didn’t.” Kyuhyun said sharply. “There is a heavy sentence for murder, Shin Sekyung-shi, do you really-“

  “He was going to break up with me.” She murmured, gritting her teeth as the words barely escaped her lips, pressing her palms together. “He said he loved someone else, and I knew who it was, so I quarreled with him. I went out with Rain-sunbae because…it was the only comfort I could get because…”

  “What?”

  “I was scared.” Her words were barely audible. “We quarreled, and the next day he was dead…Everyone would suspect me of killing him and I was scared…I didn’t kill him. I just needed someone to hang onto whilst I was…” She trailed off, tears forming in her eyes.

  “You knew who he liked?” Victoria asked curiously.

  “Jessica Jung.” Sekyung’s reply was immediate as she looked up. “They were such good friends, and they were spending so much time together for the song. It was inevitable that they would fall in love, and I tried…everything I could to stop it, but…nothing worked…except…” She paused.

  Kyuhyun was caught on by her reply. “Except?”

  “The day we quarreled, I had come to about Jessica Jung at first…” She bit her lip. “Then I suggested to him to toy with her feelings. He laughed about it, and said that maybe he would, and I thought it was real for a moment…but then he suddenly accused me for doing things to Jessica, for messing up her schedule and all, and I knew he liked her…”

  “So he broke up with you?” Victoria said bluntly.

  “Not yet, but it felt like he was going to…and then I met Rain sunbaenim, and he asked why I was upset, then I told him…after that we…we…we-“

  She broke down after that, tears storming down her cheeks, as she cried her heart out. She sobbed, gripping her skirt tightly, as if her tears were of anguish and hate for herself. Victoria leaned back against her seat, lost in her own thoughts and wondered whether her assumptions, were true enough, correct.

  “Look, Shin Sekyung-shi…” Victoria sighed slowly. “We’ll stop-“

  “I shouldn’t have said that!” Sekyung cried out. “I shouldn’t have told him to toy with Jessica! And I shouldn’t have…I shouldn’t have messed around with Rain-sunbae! I’m just so…” She just kept weeping even more.

  Kyuhyun’s fingers stopped typing on his laptop. “I think we’re done, Sekyung-shi.”

~~~

  “Rain-shi, am I right?”

  Yoona was careful, remembering Victoria’s words of caution. After ten minutes of relentless begging, Yoona had finally acquired Victoria’s approval to do the questioning on the actor, with Minho, of course, which agitated Yoona quite a bit. But as they sat side by side, she recalled his words, and she felt rather safe, instead of just feeling completely irritated by him.

  “Yes.” The man in front of them nodded curtly.

  “Rain-shi, you have been spotted with Shin Sekyung, the paparazzi had taken this picture here.” Minho slid the picture on the table towards Rain. “Shin Sekyung-shi is one of the prime suspects to the murder of Kim Jonghyun; we would like you to tell us what you know.”

  Rain was still sitting stark-straight, completely tense. “I do not know what you are trying to accuse me of doing.”

  “We only want to question your involvement with Shin Sekyung and Kim Jonghyun.” Yoona accentuated on her words, trying her best to be patient. “We aren’t suspecting you of anything, not yet, at least.”

  “I just comforted Sekyung, whilst she was in her pitiful state.” His reply was brisk. “Is there something wrong with friends going out together? Even if she is your prime suspect, is she banned from having a life?”

  “It is an investigation, and we just need to-“

  “I refuse to make any further comment. The point is, neither me nor Sekyung have any involvement in the murder of Kim Jonghyun.”

~~~

  “This is arse…” Victoria groaned, continuing to pace back and forth about the meeting room. “There is a small lead, yet not big. We need to grab a hold on some conclusive evidence.”

  Minho flipped through the documents on the table. “Shin Sekyung’s alibi is that she was with Rain, Lee Joon’s alibi is that he was recording in a studio, Jessica Jung’s alibi is that she was at home…”

  “But still, if Shin Sekyung and Rain are co-operating, both of their alibis can be disregarded.” Victoria pointed out as-a-matter-of-factly.

  Yoona was astounded. “But Shin Sekyung broke down just now when she was-“

  “Yoona, you’re not letting your emotions getting ahead of you, right?” Victoria interrupted seriously. “Shin Sekyung is an actress; I wouldn’t be surprised if she threatened to jump out of the window, or banged her head on the wall whilst crying. It is not a matter of her reactions, it is a matter of the evidence and alibis.”

  She felt a pang of guilt shoot through her as she remembered the way she treated Jessica. “However, Jessica Jung’s not guilty anymore, right? Why would she want to kill Jonghyun?”

  “We can’t assume anything yet, Yoona.” Victoria stopped her. “Nothing can be confirmed for sure unless there’s physical evidence to prove it.”

  “Uh, there’s a problem here.” Kyuhyun called out from the other side of the room. “Jonghyun recorded his debut song with Jessica as a so-called ‘first draft’ in another studio, and looking at the database here…it’s been erased.”

  Victoria turned to him sharply. “Which studio?”

  “Jonghyun was killed in Studio 5, his debut song recorded once in Studio 3, basing on the records list and the database information…” Kyuhyun scanned through several papers. “I’m going to need the booking list, to see who booked the studios. And also, we need a reconfirmation for Park Hyomin’s alibi.”

  “The president’s daughter is being suspected?” Changmin spoke up, as he stepped into the meeting room. “That’s something new.”

  “Right now, everyone is a suspect, Changmin.” Victoria’s words were clear-cut. “We can’t leave anyone out, just because they are in a position of power.” She turned to Minho and Yoona. “Changmin and I will trail Sekyung and Rain, whilst we need you two to head back to the agency and get the booking list, and don’t forget to check out Studio 3 to get some possible evidence of who erased the ‘first draft’ of the debut song.”

  Changmin chuckled as he heard Victoria’s strict order, and saw Kyuhyun’s gloomy expression. “Vic, I don’t think you’re the leader here, right?” His words making her turn bright red. “I think Kyuhyun’s been cooped up in here for too long, I’ll stay here and search for evidence, whilst you and Kyuhyun go to trail Sekyung and Rain, alright?”

  Yoona raised up her hand. “Can we please switch? I’ve been paired with Minho for the past few days already-“ She clamped a hand over , after remembering what Minho had said to her. “Wait…never mind, it’s fine.”

  Minho roared in laughter as Changmin, Victoria and Kyuhyun gave them suspicious looks. “Yoona and I will be off first, we’ll see you back here later on!” With that, he pulled her out of the office.

  “I think those two have gotten a bit closer over the past few days, don’t you think?” Victoria stifled a laugh.

  Changmin nodded. “It’s a matter of time though, when Yoona figures out-“

  “Oh, that doesn’t matter!” Victoria waved the thought off. “Yoona that girl, she won’t be overly affected, or perhaps, she m