Chapter Nine;

August 27
Seoul, South Korea

Minseok had gone out to get some groceries when my phone suddenly rang. I thought it was kind of weird, because he had no reason to call. When I picked up, I recognized a voice that was definitely not Minseok’s, slightly muffled and distanced. 

“- been a long time,” the voice was saying. “Should have known that you were back in town.”

“I never left, Detective Choi,” came Minseok’s reply. “Oh, its Chief Choi now, isn’t it?”

I frowned immediately. Why was Minseok talking to the police chief? He must have called so that we could secretly listen in on the situation. 

“Guys, come over here,” I hissed, waving the others over so they could also hear. 

“There was a reported break-in in the Gangnam area last night, did you know?” Chief Choi asked. 

“Of course not. Why would I know?” Minseok’s answer was calm, level headed. 

“The owner reported, oddly, that nothing was stolen. He’s going to do a more thorough inventory to make sure.” 

“How odd.”

“What was even odder was that a security camera on the estate’s perimeter caught someone who seemed to just be taking a stroll through the neighborhood at a very weird hour two days ago. I’ll let you in on a secret: the person was you.”

Sehun immediately paled next to me. His fingers tightened around Chanyeol’s arm. We hadn’t taken the precaution to tamper with tapes from the days leading up to the break-in, not thinking anyone would be recognized.  

“I like taking walks in the dark,” Minseok answered shortly. “What are you trying to say?”

“I’m saying that I think it’s a hell of a coincidence for you to happen to be in the a few days before the break-in occurred, isn’t it? An old, familiar face.” Chief Choi was taunting him now and I prayed that Minseok would not take the bait. He needed to play dumb and walk away. 

“You must have really missed me a lot,” was Minseok’s only reply. 

“You watch your step, Kim Minseok,” Chief Choi suddenly snarled just before the phone cut off. “I have a gut feeling that it’s you again, and this time, I’m going to prove it.”

The mood was somber this time as everyone gathered together in the living room. We had the painting in our possession, but things hadn’t gone exactly as we wanted. Now that Minseok had been caught on camera and we couldn’t risk moving it while he was under suspicion. 

Sure, they couldn’t pin anything on him now, but Lee Jihoon was probably doing stock of all his valuables now. I bet he had already sent everything he owned to be authenticated – paintings, jewels, everything. We had even less time than before to get the painting to J. Surely, the police would try to tie Minseok break-in if the painting was found to be fake. Eventually, they're going to investigate him. It was all a matter of time now.  

“Exit strategy,” Jongdae muttered, eyes fixed on the painting on the table. “We need a solid exit strategy.”

“If only it been any other police chief,” Minseok cursed, rubbing his eyes. “Dammit, out of all the people it had to be him.”

“Old friend?” Joonmyun asked dryly.

“I slipped up once when I was just starting out, and he was the detective in charge. He was sure it was me that time, but never was able to prove it, and now he’s the region chief in Gangnam-gu. He’s not going to let the investigation go very easily this time. We need to think of a way to dead end the investigation.”

Jongdae frowned, biting his lip. “There is only one way for that, Minseok. You know what that means.”

I knew what Jongdae meant. The only way to dead end the investigation on Minseok was for him to permanently go away. He couldn’t just go on the run at once, because that would lead to a nationwide manhunt. He had to disappear from right under the detective’s watchful gaze in a way that ensured they would not search for him. To do that, Kim Minseok, as we knew him, needed to die.

“I’m sorry, man,”

Minseok let out a sigh but shook his head. “It’s okay, guys. I was actually planning on retiring with the money from this job. I guess I might as well as go out with a bang.” 

At that, my head snapped up. Minseok was planning to retire? That was news to me, because he had told me two years ago that retiring was not something on his horizon. I tried to catch his gaze but Minseok was refusing to look at me. 

“I’ll go get some disguises from the theater,” Kyungsoo offered. “The stage stuff is really amazing. I can change the shape of your face, size of your nose, everything. You’ll be an entirely different person.”

“And J can get you some papers for a new identity. It shouldn’t be a problem,” Jongin added. “Just lay low, give it a few months to settle down and you should be good. We have a hideout you can use if you need.”

Minseok shook his head. “I don’t want to hide here in Korea,” he said. “I planned to retire somewhere nice and relaxing with a beautiful view. Get me the papers. I’ll fly out as soon as I can.”

“We should all part ways as well. Don’t contact each other for a few months, just to be safe.”

Jongdae’s words were met with silence. In the past few weeks, I had gotten to know every single one of these guys. Some, I had learned to admire, and others, I had learned to respect. 

“So, this is the end, huh?” Tao asked. To my surprise, I could see that his eyes were tearing up. 

“Tao, are you okay?” Jongdae asked carefully. 

“I really like you guys,” he choke