Chapter 1
The room was dark with the curtains shut, not a single ray of light to peep through. Now and again, vehicle passed by on the lane in-front of the house, yet the woman in the bed slept soundly.
“Hae-i, Jia is here. Come down quick.” An older woman called from downstairs.
The body squirmed under the blanket and pulled it over the face. If Miss Kim Yeong-hae was asked to name one thing that she hates, it would be her co-worker’s hyper-activeness, which she did not mind during working hours. But the day was 25th of November, the only Sunday she managed to relax.
This time the soft but stern voice came from behind the door with a knock. “Hae-i, don’t keep your guest waiting.”
Yeong-hae was tired from working late the previous night. She kicked her blanket in frustration and got up. Stepping down the stairs, “Jia, are you a fucking robot?” Yeong-hae called out. Jia looked up innocently holding the cup of coffee made by Yeong-hae’s grandmother.
“Mind your language young lady.” Granny Kim who was sitting next to Jia, warned Yeong-hae. “Dear, drink it before it gets cold.” Seeing how her grandmother was being lovely with Jia, Yeong-hae scoffed.
“Why don’t you just adopt her?” Yeong-hae murmured. She sat down next to Jia and spoke, “It’s Sunday today. I think I remember clearly telling you to take a day off. You have been working the whole month with no break. How can you still walk?”
Jia put down her cup and answered, “I want to talk about the case. I have- “. Yeong-hae cut her in between, “I know you started the job recently and you are excited about it. But you see, I have been working on this case for almost a year now. I worked day and night just to find that motherf***er and put him in jail or much better, executed.” Granny Kim cleared her throat loudly and glared at her.
Yeong-hae adjust herself and continued with a polite tone, “So you see, this is the first day I am taking a break for the year.”
“But you told us not to rest till we find Mr. X.”
Yeong-hae pulled her own hair and wailed in more frustration. “Okay, I said that. But we are humans. We need rest to charge our energy. What I meant was not to slack off and neglect your duty.”
“Hae-i, go brush your teeth. Your breath stinks.” Granny Kim shooed her off. Yeong-hae have no energy to deal with them. She sighed and left the mother-daughter scene alone.
The sound of bathroom door slamming thundered till the living room. Granny Kim turned to Jia and placed her hand on the knee. “Don’t mind her impolite words. Ever since she became a detective and left her parents to live with me, she did not have proper sleep nor finish her meal properly. Her temper is also only getting worse. I don’t know what she is doing because she always says I shouldn’t worry. I know she is doing all the dangerous things and what not, so I couldn’t help but pray for her safety every day.” She cupped Jia’s face and continued, “Thank you for staying by her side. Take care of each other, okay?”
Jia caressed Granny Kim’s hand and assured her, “Don’t worry. She is the fiercest sunbae in the whole department and I got her back.”
After finishing her coffee, Jia excused herself and went upstairs to Yeong-hae’s room. Being a newbie in the Crime Investigation Department, Yeong-hae took her in the team and treated her as her own sister. But when it came to the professional work, there was always this line that Jia could not cross. Jeong-hae takes her job seriously and one mistake could make her angry. Jia took a deep breath before knocking the door.
“Come in.”
Yeong-hae was putting on her face-cream. She gestured Jia to sit down on the chair by the table and so she did. “Don’t mention about the case ever again in front of my grandmother.” Jia lowered her head and apologized. “So, what have you got?”
Jia straightened her back and leaned over to whisper, “A witness.”
Yeong-hae widened her eyes and hopped with her stool closer. “Who? And how did you find them?”
“Well, it was the witness who contacted me. But she won’t disclose her identity yet. She said that the police are the last thing she will trust and there is a lot of corrupted officials.”
“If she can’t trust us, why did she contact you?”, Yeong-hae stood up from the stool and sat down on the bed.
“She read about your interview last year on the MMM magazine. She said you look trustable.” Jia pursed her lips and broke eye contact with Yeong-hae. She knew the ‘look trustable’ would sting Yeong-hae.
Yeong-hae scoffed and chuckled, “Look trustable. I see.”
Jia continued, “she said she might be followed and doesn’t feel safe in a police station, so she could not come to your office. I don’t know how she got my number, but she said she doesn’t need to talk to me and just want me to let her talk with you.”
Yeong-hae exhaled. “Of course, I must talk to her. This is the first witness of the case. She is a precious piece for this puzzle. That jerk. He keeps getting his way for almost seven years now. How could a person hide his identity so well?”
“Yes, I agree. Who knows? He could be walking freely on the street now.”
“And keep this a secret from everyone. Not a single soul must know of this. She is right. The higher ups are covering up for this person. I knew something wasn’t right when some of the records were missing, and our Chief told me to drop the case to focus on others.”
Jia promised she would keep everything as a secret and gave Yeong-hae the information of the witness.
Finally, the mystery case of the unknown person who has ordered the murder of seven innocent people, two political candidates and one official head will take a turn. But that was only the tip of the iceberg. While working on the case, Yeong-hae found out that there were many unreported cases and since there were no witness nor evidence, the cases were closed. Before, Yeong-hae believed the murder could be the work of a group of certain people but after analyzing the cases and a thorough investigation, she concluded that it was one man giving orders out to contract dealers. To commit such guilty crimes and get away easily, Yeong-hae was certain for one thing. The mysterious man was a powerful person.