[ 03: BREAKFAST AT LEE'S ]
[ CA-23 ][13.03.2015]
The team headed towards the Seoul station; less than a few minutes, Hyosung had waged with the KTX tickets at eight in the morning.
Entering the seats, there weren't much people; both Hani and Jookyung sat across Wooyoung and Hyosung; Sejoon and Jisung against Iseul and Hyerin.
Iseul couldn't mind the seating arrangement at any given time, but if it had been someone rather than Hyerin, she would've paid less attention to it. Just sitting in front of her made her shift a lot more, but Hyerin paid no heed but staring at the glass window of the train.
But another person had paid attention to them. Iseul looked front to catch up with the stare of another person; Jookyung. The guy glanced at her, and Iseul tried to hide her miserable face, but he only gave a questioning eyebrow as he stood up.
"Switch?" Iseul could see what Jookyung had mouthed; she immediately nodded, still staring blankly at him. She immediately rose up with her laptop and moved across, finding Hani dozing off at her seat.
Jookyung sat across Hyerin, who was tapping the window sill while her earbuds were occupied. She gave her right earbud to him, her eyes still facing the window view as he gently put one on.
"You're down because of Iseul?" Jookyung said, nodding as the slow melody of piano echoed in his ears.
"Barely," Hyerin raised her eyebrows at him. "it's not the first time."
"Mhm, you're saying that just as you play another cheap sappy ballad," Jookyung said, pinching his nose bridge as the vocals reached a high note. "that doesn't seem to be typical."
"Trust me, you probably didn't know half of the things I do." Hyerin said, chuckling with a bitter smile. Jookyung turned away to face her, one of his brows raised when he caught a glimpse of her smile.
"I know the other half though," He said. "and whether you're going to show that other part of you or not, that's where people will see you as a human being; not a robot."
"What if I don't want to?" Hyerin turned to him, her face cracking a small scowl. Jookyung saw her hands were tense as they grabbed the armchair of the sofa.
"Do you?" Hyerin said nothing. Jookyung turned back just as he drifted back to sleep, leaving the sighing Hyerin next to him.
♦
"To be honest with you, I'm not too sure about our schedule." Hyosung said, typing out in her laptop. Wooyoung was pushing his back against the sofa just as he gently took a look at the laptop.
"We're only going to the school at around eight instead of six, there's nothing to worry about." Wooyoung mumbled, sitting upright. He never realized that the effect of sleeping while hearing excited mumblings from a deep voice the other room would caused him to rub his eyes more frequently than he liked.
"Are we going anywhere before we're getting to work? I'm hungry." Sejoon suddenly popped up above Wooyoung's armchair, followed by Jisung. Much to Wooyoung's ire, both looked somewhat more refreshed than he or Jookyung would ever wanted to be.
"Well, I'm pretty sure we can go to a nearby restaurant to begin with," Hyosung said, and Jisung seemed to perk up at the word. "And yes, Jisung, we can go to Xiao Ya if you have an idea which part of Busan we're going to. Hani, would you be willing?"
Hani turned her head towards the commotion, before groaning and said, "Fine. Jisung, show me the photo and we'll be there soon."
Jisung awkwardly offered her the photo, but even as Hani made contact with his eyes, she couldn't help but soften. The restaurant wasn't too big, stuck between a few more kiosks around a crowded district.
Moments after she returned back Jisung's phone, she heard the sharp skidding sound of the train. It pushes to the front slightly, but came to a complete stop just as Hyosung got up, and said, "Alright, let's go."
♦
Xiao Ya wasn't exactly the farthest place from the train station, but the way up had Iseul catching her breath after a few minutes of walking upstairs made her groan. The way up from the station into the main route required not only walking through two emergency stairs and a special permission.
Entering inside it, the restaurant had a distinct smell of fried food, its cream yellow wallpapers were accented with maroon red ornaments of a Chinese restaurant. Not a lot were in the restaurant except for parents with younger children.
"Welcome," A young man with pale skin said, his eyes barely met up with Jisung's. When both of them looked at each other, he asked, "Jisung? What are you doing here? And who are those guys?"
"Oh, the school allowed a break for me. I'm just accompanying some people who got interested in trying food here." Jisung shrugged.
The older male had one of his eyebrows raised, but nodded, "Alright, I suppose so. I'll show you the table."
Without much word spoken, all eight walked towards a large round table in the left part of the restaurant.
♦
"Let's eat, everyone!" Smelling the mouth-watering scent of the Chinese foods dashed out in front of them, Sejoon couldn't help but grin a little as the rest followed Hyosung's words. But even as everyone (or most) werer digging their foods, Sejoon couldn't help but ask either.
"Who is she?" Sejoon asked. In between eating, he'd seen the portrait of a young girl with jet black hair resting her head next to a younger Jisung was placed neatly nearby the restaurant's main entrance.
"Kim Yerim, my old friend," Jisung shrugged. "she used to do some help here and we considered her a second family."
"She must've been really special to you too," he chuckled. "to get really close."
"Well, it's kind of like 'your family is my family too' thing," Jisung smiled. "How do you know?"
"I don't know, it was the only girl in that picture of you so I thought you had a problem explaining your girlfriend how you got to the academy."
"Well, I did have troubles when we both separated," Jisung said, laughing. "but we're not in that kind of relationship, it's kinda stupid to think of."
"Nah, it's not stupid to think that way. Even friends can crush each other." Sejoon shrugged.
On the farther left corner of the feast, Hani was next to Iseul, whom, to the former's unsurprised face, looked as dead as Hyerin without her laptop. Behind that, or something Hani swore she could hear, was a low grumble from Iseul.
When Hani ate some of the more reddish-looking food, Iseul was staring at her. "Spicy?"
"Not by much, pretty savory, really," Hani said. "the veggies aren't too spicy either."
Iseul was looking at her warily before she took a bite from one of the fishes offered in the feast. Iseul immediately closed her eyes, but took another bite.
"They're good, right?"
"Okay." Iseul shrugged, but she couldn't even help on hiding a small smile. Looking over the team, Hyosung was shaking her head as she beamed.
♦
"Not going to lie, I have to thank your parents for the feast." Sejoon said, patting his supposedly full stomach (although Hani could only roll her eyes when she saw that it was as flat as Iseul's voice). Jisung was laughing next to him, nodding at his words.
"Everyone, back to mission," Hyosung clapped her hands to get the group's attention in the car. "So the three of Hani, Wooyoung, and Jisung would be investigating the Han All-Girls High School. One of the mechanic for CA-23 has already set up small, hidden body cam that would be under surveillance by Iseul and me. Get a word or two from the students, make sure nobody were suspicious of you."
"Wouldn't now be the time where students didn't want to reveal informations to people?" Hani asked.
"That is if there aren't any particularly gossipy students around the school, which has really slim chances." Wooyoung said.
"Well, you can discuss this at a lengthier time individually, but I also secured another interview for Jung Woohee. For both Hyerin and Sejoon, you already knew we had this discussion a few hours before midnight, so I expect you guys to already be prepared with the uniforms too,"
"Aye aye, captain." Sejoon remarked sarcastically.
"Keep the 'aye aye' when you get the real job done, Sejoon." Hani groaned. Sejoon huffed, crossing his arms as he looked away from Hani.
"Anyways, if there isn't any more complaints, we're going. Hyosung, book the remaining guys to a hotel or somewhere that we can sleep on," Wooyoung said. "and also, two cars."
"On it," Jookyung hummed.
♦
The moment their car skidded into a halt, Sejoon couldn't help but felt tinier than ever just from imagining the place they're going to interview. He was frowning deeper, as much as he tried to curve his lips up into a smile.
"Rich upperclass can be very demanding," Jookyung said, interrupting Sejoon. "and hard to get their information from, whether it's hidden or just in front of you. They have attachment issues and paranoia from getting their stuff taken."
"So, like a brat, basically," Sejoon scoffed. "you got into their hands?"
"Kinda like years ago, where I almost got discovered trying to record a conversation between mobsters," Jookyung shrugged.
"How did that go?" Sejoon raised his eyebrows. Jookyung shook his head.
"Alright, go out and good luck."
♦
"Good afternoon, Jung Woohee. We are from the police force and we're here to ask a few questions about your daughter. When was the last time she was seen?"
Hyerin couldn't help but frown at the woman. With black pumps and pressed clean black and white blazer and trousers, Woohee was hardly alike any upperclass, almost alike in Hyosung with the only defining difference being their face features. Her eyes were soaked red that Hyerin couldn't help but frown.
The woman paused for a moment, before she said, "it was her room, she hasn't been going out for quite a time after I separated with my ex-husband. I saw what she did and we argued, basically," Woohee sighed.
"What was it that you argued with?" Hyerin asked.
"She's chatting with some boy in a chatroom, saying she wanted to meet someone," Woohee said. Yellow-ish fog started surrounding her, and Hyerin couldn't help but frown even harder.
"Why did you think she came upon the chatroom?" Hyerin asked.
"It was hard on both of us," Woohee sighed, her eyes watery. "I separated with my husband and she hasn't been taking it too well."
Hyerin saw the golden mists being surrounded by black fog. Sejoon's alarmed eyes met hers.
♦
"Thank you so much for helping the interview today. We appreciate them." Sejoon said, although Hyerin couldn't say nothing and kept on glaring at the golden ring the woman wore. Sejoon gently pulled her wrist, and they were directed by a servant to go outside.
Both silently entered their car and slowly walked into Sejoon's car. None of them talked while Jookyung drove them back to Xiao Ya. Sejoon glanced at the neon yellow digits at the car's dashboard. Ten. The sun still rose up.
As the view of traffic signs came to Sejoon, he couldn't help but sigh. The voice of a softer huff followed soon after. Sejoon turned to look at Hyerin, whom, with the lack of emotions displayed, looked even more worn out.
"We're either had an allergy against rich people or their drama," Sejoon laughed, but it sounded so empty. "or I was wondering whether you just smelled BS from a few kilometres."
"They're not mutually exclusive. Motivations matter." Hyerin glanced at Sejoon, giving an acknowledging nod towards him as the car sped up.
♦
"Not sure that helps." Jookyung groaned. The rest of the group remained silent as the voice recorder stopped playing. They were in a small hotel; it was cold and tight for the five, but it was the quietest part of the restaurant.
"The interview mostly told us of what we know." Hyosung sighed, tapping the table with her hands. "the only thing we're assured is that Woohee is the birth mother... although the way she talked about her husband seemed suspicious."
"Sans the affair part," Sejoon raised his eyebrows. "isn't there any clues collected from the current report?"
"No fingerprints found except for the two, the blood tests indicate the blood belongs to both of them and in accordance to witness' accounts, it happened around 5:53 PM. CCTVs stopped recording around then, only appearing with a black screen." Jookyung said, shifting closer to Iseul.
"Nowhere nearby?" Sejoon shifted onto the couch.
"No fingerprints or footprints were found either in sand," Jookyung said.
"Were the CCTVs broken now?" Hyosung asked.
"Yes." Iseul said.
"Are there any that aren't exactly destroyed in some way?"
"They're very far, can't see." Iseul sighed.
"How many are unusable now?"
"Four, located in the same place."
"What's the relationship with all of them? Yang Jungyoon sounded like a lost case by now," Sejoon grunted as he moved out of the couch. Hyerin, who had been lying down on the bed, was staring at him.
"Rohee and Miyeon came from Han All Girls' School, Gyeon Kinam met Hyerin, and Yang Jungyoon was dead after she was assaulted. Miyeon was supposed to be the unaffiliated one." Jookyung said.
"Both Kim Rohee and Kim Miyeon are the same age, but they didn't attend the same class," Sejoon raised his eyebrows. "Jookyung, where did you get the two reports?"
"I had my sources," Jookyung shrugged.
"Great." Sejoon groaned. Hyerin tilted her head.
"Until Wooyoung, Hani, and Jisung even returned, that's where we're going to get a full report. In the meantime, take a well-earned rest, if you can." Hyosung said, turning back to watch Iseul.
notes : /looks up at promise/ uh... so the thing is i have to decrease my time on aff because apparently school just loves to kill you for no reason at all! hah. ugh, i'm really sorry. i lost so much muse and stress takes up your time, and not only that, i was busy this winter break. this chapter is a hard one to write. i wish i can get through at least one more chapter before new year 2017.
p.s. characters who are not chosen WILL still be playing pivotal roles (just as i'm not planning for yuri to disappear forever as there's still mark tuan, others will have their own roles too.) or do you guys want the characters to have a new occupation? PM me or comment down below.
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