The Model Student’s Espionage Mission

Jin Goo dropped Gun at their house.

However, Hyuk refused to get off, though it was also his stop. He was too pissed to be in the same space as his insufferable younger brother. Instead, he suggested to go to either In Guk's apartment or Jin Goo's house to hang out, which the two agreed.

Gun did not feel hurt at all by Hyuk's action. Rather, he was grateful for it. He had a plan and it needed to be conducted in secrecy. If the house was empty and that man was also away, then that would be the most perfect situation.

"Don't bother picking up Yeo Ri from school. I'll do it myself," Hyuk says towards Gun before leaving.

Gun frowned at Hyuk's behaviour. They were both brothers from the same mother; he was his little brother and Yeo Ri was their little sister, but the difference in treatment was huge. He couldn't fathom just why Hyuk hated him so much. But it didn't really matter, since Gun himself was guilty for looking down on that wayward brother of his.

Gun entered the house quietly. As per habit, he looked around cautiously for any sign of that man.

He peered at the shoe rack and checked to see if that man's shoes were here. Seeing that the pair of worn-out shoes were not there, he surmised that the man was not home, just as he hoped.

That man had been coming and going randomly for some time now, and Gun could roughly imagine just what he was doing. And it was probably not work that was keeping him away.

First thing first, Gun put away his schoolbag inside his room. Then, he took out the lock-picking kit that Hwang Se Jin had given him.

He glanced behind him, hoping that his plan would go accordingly. He unconsciously touched the knife he had hidden on his body, a grim look on his face.

Gun also took out his phone and the wiretapping device. Although he didn't know where to put it yet, he still wanted to take it with him in hopes of finding something worthwhile.

As a final measure, he wore the surgical gloves that he had somehow stolen from the hospital. He didn't want to leave any fingerprints and be dubbed a suspect or an accomplice, after all.

With newfound determination. Gun got up and headed towards the locked door of his father's room.

With practised ease, he easily unlocked the door with the tools. Although he could have made do with a hairpin and a paper clip, he still preferred more sophisticated tools to save time.

The door opened with a small click.

Gun crept inside quietly. That man had a tendency to be where you least expected him to be so he had to be extremely careful.

Luckily, Lee Do Joon was not inside his room.

Gun heaved a small sigh of relief.

Gun looked around the room. Nothing had changed since the last time he sneaked inside. With his sense of familiarity, Gun reached towards the second-last drawer of the old but sturdy cabinet on the left side of the room.

Gun fumbled around the drawer filled with women's clothes. Those had been his stepmother's before she... passed. He pushed down the sorrow in his heart and focused on the task at hand.

After rummaging the inside of the drawer carefully, he finally found what he was looking for.

A jewellery box made of reddish wood.

It had fancy metal decorations and the lock required a key; of which was now being carried around by his father everywhere. A long time ago, the box had belonged to his stepmother, Han Yeoreum. According to what she had told him when he was younger, the box had been a birthday present from her parents, and she loved it even more since her own name was engraved on its underside, signifying that she was its sole owner.

The woman had treasured this box dearly, but now it was used as a hoarding box. None of the jewellery that his mother owned remained; all of them had been sold off by Lee Do Joon. Now, what filled the box were trinkets of various origins.

Souvenirs, from that man's victims.

His trophies.

Gun's jaw locked at the thought.

Gun immediately took care of the lock and took some pictures of the evidences.

There were some new additions, so he took them out and captured it into his phone.

Gun's eyes drifted to one of the older trinkets.

It was a bracelet.

It had been a 'souvenir' from a woman named Hwang Se Young, who had gone missing six years ago.

The design was very similar to the one that Hwang Se Jin had worn during their meeting the other day. Both bracelets were personally crafted by the man when he was younger, so it was not hard to notice the resemblance.

Gun had known about this woman because he had once tried to tail Lee Do Joon. However, the man was as slippery as an eel, and as an inexperienced young boy, Gun lost sight of him on multiple occasions.

Back then, he had seen Lee Do Joon approach the woman and took her somewhere, but he was unable to follow them. A few days afterwards, Hwang Se Jin filed a missing persons report and Gun had seen it while watching the news. Fast forward a week later, Lee Do Joon came back with a bracelet that was somewhat dirty and had specks of dried-up dark red liquid on it. He had later stored it inside the jewellery box as part of his collection.

Gun had then tracked down Hwang Se Jin and contacted him. Then, he sneaked into the forbidden room and stole the bracelet to convince the man of Lee Do Joon's hand in his sister's disappearance. Of course, in order to not illicit suspicion, he immediately placed back the bracelet inside the box without Lee Do Joon ever noticing it was gone.

Gun snapped out of his thoughts and finished up his task. This was no time for remembering the past. Gun fixed the box back into its original place and searched around the room for more clues.

However, much to his dismay, he found nothing that was out of the ordinary.

Aside from the secret jewellery box, there was nothing else. He had checked every nook and cranny of the room, noting down hard-to-reach spots where he could potentially hide the bug. After contemplating for a while, he decided to stick the bug under the cabinet. He positioned it in a way that it would be hard to be noticed and activated the little piece of technology. Although he would have liked to put the bug as close as he could to Lee Do Joon, he simply had no idea on how he could attach the bug on the man without being noticed. Since it was nigh impossible, he settled for the next best thing. Who knows, maybe he might be able to catch a confession or something if that man happens to have a habit of talking to himself.

After looking around for a while longer, Gun sighed and decided to end his little recon mission.

He carefully erased any signs of his breaking and entering and retreated from the room as silently as he came. He was good at erasing his traces, but Lee Do Joon was even better at it than him, he mused. After almost eleven years, he still couldn't catch that man, and neither could the police.

Gun re-locked the door and returned to his room, making it appear as if he had never broke in.