Funny how bothered they are

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IT was quarter past seven and the Jung siblings found themselves outside the gates of the House of Kim, drinking in the picture that presented itself before their eyes.

Covered in fashionable ivy leaves were the imposing gates and behind their bars was the mansion that was called The Humble House of Kim, painted in the solemn colors of ivory blue and black. A huge circle of uniformly trimmed lawn grass surrounded it, a drive-through to the garage being the only patch of land that wasn't green. To complete its austere look, an eight-foot tall, wall-like, concrete fence surrounded the house in a fashion similar to the grass.

Hoseok snorted in disgust. "The Humble House of Kim, they call it. These rich people have this crazy little notion of calling anything they own simple or humble or little, when they are clearly not."

"What's little for them is not little for us, after all," Wheein remarked.

Letting her eyes rove over the palace-like structure for one last time, she played the many scenarios of the murder scene in her mind, every single of them ridiculous to the sane mind.

"The rest of the squad shall be here in a few minutes," Hoseok added, glancing at his wrist-watch, effectively managing to rouse Wheein from her thoughts.

With the dismissal of the last murder-plot, her hand raised to ring the austere mechanic bell.

*

Jimin's first reaction when he saw the uniform of the woman who rang the bell was pure, unadulterated fear. The sombre expression of the man next to her did not help. And the burning stare that both the red-headed individuals gave was imposing enough.

"Why do all policemen glare so much ...," he muttered as his finger pressed a button on the intercom.

Swallowing his saliva, he proceeded to interrogate them with the usual questions.

"Who are you and what is your business?"

The man replied to the question after exchanging a brief nod with his fellow redhead.

"I am Inspector Jung and this is Chief Constable Jung. We are here regarding the sudden death of Kim Namjoon, as we had specified in the call made earlier to the House of Kim. Can I have a word with Mrs. Kim, or anyone else present in her stead?"

Mouth dry, Jimin stuttered through the intercom.

"I s-suppose you c-can. Mrs. Kim isn't here, however. Said she had to post a letter of some sorts. Ms. Kim is absent too and Mr. Kim Seokjin is out of town."

"Well?" Wheein queried, various reasons for the absences popping in her head, each more colorful than the previous.

"I suppose you could speak to Son Seungwan, the housekeeper. She was the one who received your call and also the one to admit Mr. Kim to the hospital."

"Let us in then," Hoseok ordered.

*

A few minutes spent in daunting silence and then, from the distance, Hoseok could see the door of the mansion creak open to reveal the black-clad figure of a man, clearly the manservant or valet as they preferred to be called. With quick yet surprisingly graceful strides, he opened the gates barring the entrance to the Jung siblings into the mansion.

"No car or vehicle of any sort, sir?" he asked Hoseok.

Hoseok shook his head, jerking a finger behind him, to show the board that announced the location of a bus stop a few blocks away from the posh square where all the privileged resided.

"Ah," the valet nodded, taking in the plain clothes that Hoseok and Wheein had adorned themselves in.

"There will be more of us coming soon, however. Just the usual routine inspections," Hoseok informed, earning a nod from the valet.

One seldom called a murder investigation check routine, but Hoseok found it difficult to phrase it any different to the man who clearly quivered under his stare, despite the crisp and professional demeanour he somehow managed to show.

His sister and him had arrived earlier than their squad to get first-hand knowledge about the place. It was his suggestion to ease the rest of the household before the onslaught of questioning, staring law-keepers.

"Come in then, sir and madam. Ms. Son awaits your presence."

With brisk steps, the siblings kept up with the valet who was more keen on leading them into the mansion rather than holding a conversation. Deciding to break the ice and gain some insight from one of the staff, Wheein began to make a few inquiries off the record before the formal interrogation that would anyway happen.

"Have you been informed of the death prior to meeting us, or is it the first time you are hearing about this?"

"The first time, ma'am," came the short, swift reply.

"And how does that affect you?"

"He ... he was a good man, Mr. Kim. The entire household will grieve his loss."

Wheein glanced at Hoseok and saw her older brother casting a look of disapproval at her. She rolled her eyes in response to that action, something that would happen quite often every time the two of them worked on a case together.

Like all pairs of siblings, the Jung siblings were no exception to the clashing of opinions.

While Hoseok believed taking the straight, narrow yet uncompassionate path of justice, Wheein strongly believed that even the crooked and crude paths of reason and human nature couldn't be avoided. Her ability to ask a question overpowered that of Hoseok's to extricate answers out of people without hindering any boundaries of their comfort zone.

Ironically, Wheein's charming personality - in conversation - was more intimidating than Hoseok's stoic, cool self.

While they preferred not to work together to avoid any quarrels or differences in opinion, every single subordinate of theirs secretly agreed amongst themselves that the two, when together, had the deadly combination of cool logic and steely nerves.

There was yet a day to come where the Jung siblings hadn't solved a case and the queerness of this particular case seemed to challenge that.

*

Gazing at the mirror one last time, Son Seungwan smiled faintly and brushed the invisible lint from her beige skirt one last time. Tucked in the skirt was a grey blouse with immaculate white cuffs that concealed a silver watch. After tucking away a few stray strands that escaped her braid, she exited her humble quarters and walked downstairs to the entrance hallway.

As she glided - glided, yes, not walked - down the stairs, her eyes cast a look that had the faintest tint of curiosity in them over the two red-haired, plain-clothed individuals staring up at her, astonishment mirrored on their faces. She hid a smile.

In his mind, Hoseok had visualized a hefty woman in her mid-forties accompanied by a powerful bearing and a stout voice. He was thrown off balance at the prim, immaculate figure that graced his presence.

"Good evening, Inspector Jung and Chief Constable Jung. I have been expecting you," Seungwan began, her voice giving the contrasting impression that butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.

"Would you prefer questioning the staff first, or having a conversation with me?"

Exchanging glances with each other, Wheein and Hoseok parted ways.

"I shall be having that conversation while Chief Constable Jung here shall be conducting a routine questionnaire with the staff. After which, there will be separate interviews with each member of the staff, if that is okay with you," Hoseok informed, earning a dismissive nod from Seungwan.

She led him to the sitting room and gestured him to take a seat on the mahogany cushioned chair while she seated herself on the plush velvet sofa opposite it.

"Well?" Seungwan asked, her palms resting on her knees.

"As you already know, the reason for my being here is Kim Namjoon's death. The autopsy report declared it as food poisoning, to be precise. And if I am not wrong, you were the one who found his body?"

She gave an affirmative as a reply. There was no emotion in her eyes, which baffled the Inspector to a certain extent.

"Now, can you describe to me what was the last thing Kim Namjoon consumed? Any meat, perhaps? Cold ham? Fish?"

"Tea." Seungwan's quiet reply astounded Hoseok.

"He had tea, in the library. I found him in the library, you must have already known that. And by tea, I don't just mean the beverage itself; I hope you realize that."

"Oh," Hoseok collected himself, ridding himself of the colorful image of a Seungwan dressed like the Dormouse, pouring a cup of tea to Namjoon, the Mad Hatter.

He granted himself leeway for that; living with Jung Wheein had encouraged his lust for drama.

"I see," he continued. "Who else was present for tea? And if you don't mind telling me what was served ...?"

"Of course not. Mr. Kim, Mrs. Kim, Ms. Kim and Mr. Chwe, Ms. Kim's fiancé were present for tea. I'm sure you just have read in the papers ...?"

Hoseok nodded, motioning for her to continue.

"Yes, so Mr. Chwe had also joined the Kim family for tea, but he hardly stayed. Mr. Kim Seokjin was absent as he was overseas on work purposes. He shall be arriving on Thursday this week."

Hoseok jotted down the information and Seungwan continued to speak.

"Now for tea, there were a variety of savories and sweets served - a chocolate cake, some pound butter and scones, an assortment of cookies and sandwiches, too. Oh, and tea, of course."

"I see," Hoseok repeated his favorite sentence, jotting down the names of the food items.

"We shall be collecting samples, of course. Seeing that it was a case of poisoning -"

"What was the poison used?"

Seungwan's sudden question made Hoseok flick his head up from his notepad.

"Excuse me?"

"There wasn't any meat served so that gives the impression that this wasn't food poisoning, was it, Inspector?"

Hoseok didn't answer and she took that as a reason to continue, now with a faint smile playing on her lips. It wasn't a smile of humour, but one of curious interest.

"Your sibling is interviewing - yes, sibling, I recognized your familiar facial features and your informal mannerisms - my staff and upsetting most of them as police officers always do. That cannot be for any light reason, can it?"

For a few moments, Hoseok didn't utter a word. His face assumed that of an opaque expression, seemingly making him look a bit foolish. However, anyone who knew him could tell that he was in a phase of wild happiness - a certain adrenaline that even Wheein couldn't beat.

Leaning a bit forward, his voice a mere inches away from being classified as a whisper, Hoseok put forth a question.

"What are your thoughts on this, hm? For someone hired to be a housekeeper, you don't exactly seem to care about the family's reputation, despite serving them."

Seungwan cracked a smile.

"I am the fourth housekeeper to be hired ever since Mr. Kim married Mrs. Kim, whose maiden name was Bae Joohyun. Nightmare, she is. Ordering about for the littlest of things, getting away with everything - she's got quite the snobby character. She wasn't exactly the well-off figure that she is now, and well, I must admit she pulled the strings well. She has been blessed with natural beauty unlike Poor Yeri -"

"Ms. Kim? What about her?"

"Ah, there I go again."

Hoseok smiled, having been accustomed to this sort of response quite often.

"Do you mind if I speak off the record? You won't take this as a statement, will you?"

Hoseok shook his head.

"They are quite the dubious lot, the Kims. Kim Namjoon was frankly one of the most odious men I knew, boasting about every single scheme he had implemented and how many businesses he had shut down. And ever since Joohyun came into the picture, I have been told that he has become worse. Seokjin and Yerim were most against their marriage. They are quite cold to her and don't treat her with the respect that Namjoon expected from them, but she doesn't care. She'd got the main man wrapped around her little finger anyway. And she's quite the sexy piece of goods, if you know what I mean, Inspector."

Hoseok mentally shook his head to Seungwan's highly inappropriate comment and wondered how a young woman like her could say things like that.

Then again, he had a shameless sibling who refused to filter her thought-to-mouth process, so he was in no position as such to make a comment on Seungwan's word choice.

"What about Mr. Kim Seokjin?"

"Oh, he's like the ardent son that Mr. Kim never had. Very devoted to Kim Enterprise and a nephew of his from his younger sister, who died when Seokjin was still a baby. His father and Mr. Kim have always been on good terms so Seokjin spent a lot of his childhood in this mansion. He's very precise with what he does and plays it safe. Also he's one of the most miserly men I have encountered - he still lives here rather than buy his own place. Why bother when you have a pocket full of suites?"

"And we come to Ms. Kim," Hoseok remarked, which made Seungwan give an ironic smile.

"I feel sorry for that girl, you know. She's like one of those tragic characters in plays who never get their way, quite the pitiful story. Mother dead when she was barely five, father breathing down her neck for not being lady-like, you get the gist. Most against the second marriage of her father. Mrs. Kim is also a voracious spendthrift, which adds fuel to her suspicion of the marriage being one of money and not love. And it's also the age gap ..."

"Go on," Hoseok egged her, his pen long forgotten, for certain things required simple memory, not ink.

"Yerim is barely five years younger than Joohyun who's almost nearing thirty. Joohyun isn't the most pleasant person to her and takes keen pleasure in watching Namjoon belittle her. Also the fact that Yerim isn't a natural beauty like her adds on to her already inflated ego."

"What do you mean, natural beauty?"

"Oh, didn't you know? Little Yerim underwent a few surgeries to achieve her father's beauty standards. It was all in the papers-"

"For the first and last time, I do not read gossip tabloids."

"You don't? Pity. Even the ones with the most hideous lies contain a grain of truth, Inspector."

Hoseok did not answer (as he preferred eloquent silence to meaningless chatter) but only sifted her words and their meaning. Whether he hated it or not, they did ring with painful truth.

"And we come to Mr. Chwe, then. Or are there any other family members that I should be enlightened about?"

Seungwan's eyes twinkled.

"You do your research well, Inspector. Mr. Kim has another child, I mean, had. He goes by the name Kim Taehyung and is currently living in Busan. Of what I have heard, he is quite the rebellious sort you know; the attractive black sheep of the house. Mr. Kim kicked him out of the household owing to his sexual preferences - he likes men - and they haven't kept in touch as of yet. Nevertheless-"

"Nevertheless?"

"It is still odd that Mr. Kim should call Taehyung back to the house."

"And what makes you say that?"

"Mr. Kim and Seokjin had a bit of a row not too long ago - about a month back. And while they were arguing, Mr. Kim exclaimed 'I shall call Taehyung back, my soul be damned if I do. At least he doesn't hesitate to take risks unlike your sorry self.'"

"Interesting," murmured Hoseok, jotting the piece of information down.

A family drama. Wheein's favorite kind.

"And we come to Mr. Chwe, Ms. Kim's fiancé."

"As far as I know, Yerim's engagement with him is purely platonic and more like a friendly agreement between the Chwes and Kims to maintain familial bonds. She does adore him, but unfortunately he doesn't give her the attention she desires. He is a bit weak and incapable of making his own decisions as such, which is perfect for Mr. Kim- oh dear, I mean was. I do seem to forget that the man is dead, poor soul," Seungwan added, not sounding very convincing.

"Is there anyone else that I should know about?"

"Oh ... I forgot Mr. Min."

"Who's that?" Hoseok raised his eyebrows.

"Mr. Kim's brother-in-law from his earlier marriage. Mr. Min is currently in his sixties and moved in the mansion with his sister and has stayed on even after her death. He does not join the rest of the family for dinner and will not like being called down for anything at all. You will have to go upstairs to his room to interrogate him if you wish to do so. I don't know much about him."

"I understand," Hoseok nodded, finding a bit strange that someone from the first wife's side should still stay in the house.

"That's it about the Kim family, Inspector Jung. Your sister should get the background information she needs from interviewing the staff. I'm sure I won't be needed too much from here on."

"I'm afraid you will be, Ms. Son," Hoseok commented, clicking his pen shut as he looked up with a charming smile.

"I still need background information on you. You are part of the staff, aren't you?"

Seungwan wore a pursed smile. Fortunately for her, the bell rang just then.

"That must be Mrs. Kim," Seungwan put forth. "She's back from posting her letter. Took her long enough."

Hoseok stood up and walked out of the room in slow strides. On his way down, he encountered Wheein who was returning from the kitchen at that moment. They both exchanged knowing glances and looked on as Park Jimin went forth to answer the door.

The final rays of sunlight streamed into the house as the silhouetted figure walked in the house with a curious look upon her face.

Hoseok finally got a good look at the woman of the house who went by the name of Kim Joohyun. He then realized the force of Seungwan's words when he took in the sight before his eyes.

Bae Joohyun was a sexy piece of goods.

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