"Twenty seven people.." Sehun sighed, his head hanging low between his shoulders. His blonde hair bellowing in the gentle breeze blowing through the opened window right next to his allocated desk. His face wrinkled with sleepless nights, various store coffee cups lay discarded in his waste bin with many more occupying the ground around it. "How is it possible that twenty-seven people were killed at the exact same time all over the country? It doesn't make sense."

"Which is probably why the chief gave this assignment to us in the first place, since we deal with the impossible on a daily basis." Minseok retorted from his desk which was located towards the back of the small assigned room they were given as a site for their base of operations. His attention being divided between their group meeting and the file he hadn't given up since they had received it earlier that morning. "Looking through the medical reports I can determine that a majority of these people were young, roughly between the nineteen to twenty-four age range."

"Young adult." Jongin supplied the term, Minseok agreeing with a click of his fingers. "Maybe they played Bloody Mary?"

"They'd need a full moon for that," Chanyeol denied the suggestion, though he still wrote the idea down on the whiteboard. "Suho could you check-"

"The night they died it was a waxing crescent, the full moon wasn't scheduled for another two weeks." The tech genius declared, fingers resting against the keys of his laptop's keyboard waiting patiently for more instructions. His conclusion resulted in Chanyeol crossing out Jongin's Bloody Mary suggestion, the idea joining the twenty other rejected options.

"Minseok, is there anything else in the file that we may have overlooked?" Chanyeol wondered, frustration riddled in his voice. The whiteboard marker in his hand was very close to being thrown at the opposite wall, never before had they been incapable of coming to a reasonable conclusion regarding the creature they were facing. Though there had never been as many victims then there was in this particular case, in order to prevent the creature from killing again (and therefore protect others from its reach) it was important for them to determine exactly what it was they were up against.

"There is a note here from the chief," Minseok explained, withdrawing the bright yellow sticky note from the contents of the file. "He says that he had consulated Commander Song on the matter of the case. Apparently he had given him permission to discuss the case with his criminology class in the university. The students seemed to have good ideas but many of them were debunked by the officers who had the case before us."

"It wouldn't hurt to get Commander Song's involvement," Suho suggested, knowing to choose his words carefully when addressing Commander Song around Chanyeol. The two had a sour history that stretched back to the beginning of Chanyeol's career in the military, as Suho was closer in age to his Captain he could recall the exact situation that caused Chanyeol's fast-paced promotion that hadn't sat well with the Commander. "He is a well respected professor whose persistence has allowed numerous soldiers to join our ranks. Maybe hearing what some of his students had to say on the case may be beneficial in narrowing down what it is we are dealing with."

"It wouldn't hurt to try hyung..." Sehun agreed. Having gotten bored throwing his balled up rubber-band ball in the air, he had resorted to tossing it across the room to Jongin who was thankful for the distraction, though Suho -whose desk remained in the middle of the two youngsters- groaned as the ball continued to fly over his head. "Besides it gives us an excuse to be on campus, maybe we could run into Baekhyun!"

"Oh we all know how delightful that would be!" Jongin gushed, the man getting so excited he accidentally threw the rubber-band ball with a curve of his wrist, the ball just barely avoiding Suho's head.

"Jongin!" Suho cried, head ducking towards his table in response to Jongin's throw. "You're a weapons expert who clearly needs to get more training with aim!"

"Blasphemy!" Sehun declared, an unrecognisable accent slipping past his pale pink lips. Unsurprisingly he slipped into his usual ranting mindset, shooting daggers at Suho and reminding him -in a longer than necessary way- that they could still have difficulties with their job position and for someone who had a lot of experience with weapons Jongin was bound to make a few mistakes. His argument was met with further scrutiny when Suho reminded him about the importance of Jongin's ability to aim, going further to emphasise what could happen if Jongin's shooting ability was compromised.

In their narrow-minded argument Minseok had stood from his desk at the back of the room and approached the team's Captain, Chanyeol welcomed the medic to his side with a pained smile. In the process of arriving by his Captain's side, Minseok had withdrawn his phone, the screen depicting the Commander's number. With a reluctant dip of his head Chanyeol granted him permission to make the phone call, his heart heavy as Minseok dismissed himself from the room to speak privately with their superior leaving him alone to deal with the bickering adults.

Somehow he had managed to get them all into the car, though some were more reluctant than others. Sehun sat in the backseat with his arms crossed against his chest, a pout was displayed on his lips a clear indication of his obvious discomfort of being in such close proximity to his 'bully'. Suho wasn't any better, sitting in the passenger seat of the jeep with his head raised towards the ceiling determined to remain strong in his claim of being superior. Jongin who sat in the middle with Minseok appeared traumatised, the poor boy shaking like a leaf after having heard Chanyeol curse the bickering duo out of it. The Captain apologised to his weapon's expert, having never expected Jongin's reaction to his usual outburst. Chanyeol made a mental note to ensure that Jongin was never in the room when he gave out to people again.

Upon their arrival at the university, Chanyeol was surprised to find an usher waiting by the entrance for them. A young girl with prep in her step greeted the soldiers, though she was probably misinformed about their identity since she appeared to be giving them a tour of the campus rather than taking them to where they needed to be. The lack of their uniforms probably didn't help with that, but with a quick word from Minseok the girl rushed to take them to the auditorium where Mr. Song was believed to be waiting for them.

The room was large but familiar as they entered through the wide double doors, Sehun and Suho racing each other to see who could get through them first. An unamused Chanyeol slipped in before either of them had the opportunity, too focused on the other to realise that the imaginary prize had already been claimed. It was painfully obvious that not one of them was paying attention, since they both failed to realise that their Captain had stopped dead in his tracks just inside the doorway forcing them to stagger backwards into Jongin and Minseok who weren't shy to declare their annoyance.

Sitting amongst the students of Commander Song's criminology class was the object of Chanyeol's adoration, Byun Baekhyun sat in the second row blinking nervously up at his professor who had turned to watch the Captain's team as they entered the university's auditorium. Thankfully those behind him seemed to realise the importance of silence, their bodies instantly retreating into soldier mode with their arms resting tightly against their sides. Chanyeol led the way into the room, down the sloping floor and towards the front of the room. Their presence sparked silence from the college students, many turning to look at them in awe. The team disregarded their gazes, eyes focused solely on the Commander who bowed to welcome them on stage.

Once the team were standing in their positions and their Commander had granted them permission to laid ease, did Chanyeol gain the courage to find Baekhyun's gaze. The college student seemed surprised by his presence yet the kind smile on his lips depicted how delighted he was to see him again. After all, it had been awhile since their last meeting. It was a scenario Chanyeol's mind had on repeat ever since it happened that dreary day a month ago, having realised his feelings for the youngster Chanyeol believed it best to put some distance between them having never expected to see how bright Baekhyun's eyes would shine when they finally met his again after so long. It caused his heart to skip a beat.

"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen of the SM University criminology studies class, my name is Park Chanyeol and I am leader of this team of well knowledged and versed men standing next to me. As I'm sure you are aware by now, the case Commander Song was granted permission to discuss with you some time ago has now been given to myself and my team. As there appears to be a few loose ends with the case, we figured that it would be best to interview you all individually in order to receive your ideas personally. Each of us will take a small group of you and listen to what you believed happened in our case, though due to final exams coming up we have been instructed to do these interviews in a time-table slot format in order to allow studying opportunities. However due to my position and demand I'm afraid that those wishing to join my group will be forced to remain later than the others so if you wish to transfer to my colleagues please feel free to do so. Minseok is now going to hand you a piece of paper with our names and allocated time-slots, please discuss amongst yourselves who will go where and with whom. The interviews will be held in the classrooms located in this corridor, a classroom number has been allocated to each interviewer and is present below our names on the paper. Interviews will begin in an hour, please use this time to review your notes about the case or obtain any further information necessary... thank you."

With that being said Chanyeol nodded to his team and rushed to follow Commander Song out of the auditorium, having been instructed to do so by Minseok when he returned from having spoken to the Commander on the phone. Chanyeol wasn't entirely sure what the elder male had to say to him that couldn't be discussed in the presence of his team-members, regardless of his hesitation Chanyeol still followed his superior who seemed to be leading him out of the hallway. They turned a corner before finally the man opened a door, staying behind to usher Chanyeol through the threshold. The Captain followed through with the silent request, toes stepping over the threshold before continuing further into the room.

He couldn't prevent the jolt of surprise his body had let out when the door to the Commander's office slammed closed, Commander Song rushing behind his table. Chanyeol attempted to salute him but the man merely brushed him off, claiming that they didn't have enough time for formalities. The tension in Chanyeol's stomach only got stronger, a ball forming in his throat as he took in the man's blazen behaviour.

"Sir?" Chanyeol questioned, slowly allowing himself the opportunity to approach his superior's table. It was then that he noticed just how uncomposed the man was, usually his behaviour was stiff, a little hot under the collar but stiff nonetheless. However, the actions and demeanour of the man standing before him were fluid and desperate like a drug addict in need of his next fix.

"I must request you to secrecy." Commander Song declared, voice high and pained. Chanyeol observed him as he frantically glanced around the room, eyes searching for something that wasn't even there to begin with. "I want you to forget about our history, our arguments and our disagreements. I need you to do your job right now Captain, but I must demand that you do not utter anything I'm about to show or tell you to another soul at least while you are still on campus grounds.. Do I make myself clear Captain?"

Though curious, Chanyeol still found himself agreeing both verbally and by nodding his head. "Yes sir, I will not speak about it to anyone else while on campus grounds."

"Good." Commander Song heaved a deep breath, his body collapsing into his swivel high-back chair.

Chanyeol found the Commander to be gazing out into the space around him again, eyes constantly trying to find something in the shadows but ultimately coming up empty. Just as he was about to open his mouth and enquire what this secret meeting entailed, Commander Song rushed to speak.

"I trust that you've read the medical reports?" Chanyeol nodded, seeing it unfit to disclose that Minseok had been the one to review them though he was confident in the summary of them. "Then I trust that you know what this is?"

Commander Song displayed his right hand which was covered in a glove Chanyeol had not noticed before, he waited patiently for the man to remove it, brows furrowing at the pained groans the Commander had let out because of it.
When he finally got to see what was causing the elder discomfort, the blood from Chanyeol's head rushed straight to his heart, the muscle thundering in his chest from the familiarity of the wound.

"I'm certain you know what this is?" Chanyeol nodded his head, words unwilling to be spoken. "This," he continued. "Is the mark identified on the bodies of the victims. Unfortunately I do not know how I came to possess it."