Jake woke up from his slumber. Friday had been a long day. He pushed himself out of his bed.

Zero murder suspects. That bastard was clever enough not leave any evidence behind.

Jake held his head in his hands.

Eomma.
Who killed you eomma?
Why did you leave me?

Before he knew it, tears were streaming down his cheeks and his body was quivering like a leaf. He starting sobbing.
'Eomma...,' he said out loud, his voice cracking. Something naïve inside him still believed that his eomma would appear out of thin air once he called out for her. He dug his nails into his pillow, whimpering. He sniffed and coughed a little, salty tears rolling down into his mouth.

Here, all alone at home, he was free to weep his heart out. He missed her. He missed everything about her. Her warm hugs, her kind words, her version of Chopin Nocturne in E flat major. He had told his friends earlier that there was no use talking about his dead mother, but that was all he had wanted to do, all this while.

He wanted to reminisce about their times together. About how they had almost burnt the whole house down while cooking a pizza and how they fell asleep while watching his favorite cartoon after that as if nothing had happened. About how they planted saplings together in the garden and she caught him eating mud. He had thought it was chocolate, but it's okay, he was only six.

Jake clutched the pillow in his hands as he pressed his face into it. He got up and headed to the bathroom. He turned the faucet on and washed his face with water. For the first time in the week, it actually felt good. He felt at ease. Crying had relieved a large chunk of his emotional baggage.

He wiped his face with a towel and looked at himself in the mirror. His eyes were a little red from crying. He smoothed out his rather unkempt hair as he eyed his reflection and left the bathroom.
He sighed.

'Looks like someone needs a haircut,' he thought.

It was five a.m.
Jake tossed and turned in his bed, trying to get some shut eye. His eyes were sore from crying and he felt sleepy, but somehow he couldn't get himself to drowse. He eventually gave up and got out of bed again. He wore his mask and sunglasses and sifted through his phone, checking if Detective Ahn had sent him any texts.

DETECTIVE AHN : Jaeyun ssi, we are trying our best, don't worry.
                                                                       23:08

Jake sighed and refreshed the page.
Still the same.

The investigation had lasted for several hours prior to the interrogation. The detective had examined the walls of eomma's practice room, checking for scratches and signs of struggle. Although it had been difficult to find much, Ahn had managed to get his hands on some evidence which Jake was obviously not allowed to look at. The officers had stayed at his house until ten at night. After their departure, Jake couldn't help but feel uneasy. He couldn't help but feel like he ought to aid them at each and every step in every way he could so he sent the detective numerous texts, inquiring about their investigation.

Murders in Korea were so rare that people lying dead in a pool of blood was rarely ever considered a case of foul play, often rubbed off as an accident. Most of the times, it would be a mere mishap. But sometimes like these, the times when the cause of death did turn out to be something other than a case of pure misfortune, the police were left with little to examine and look into.
With the floor being squeaky clean and with all the traces of a recent murder legally erased, cases like these would often remain unsolved, lying in the corner of a shelf containing case files in a local police station, collecting years' worth of dust.

But maybe this time it was different. Jake was hopeful about his mother's perpetrator being caught, since the cops had established a clear and obvious connection between her murder and the annual brutalities in Seoul. And there was no way the government wouldn't succumb to the pressure it was under and forgo the demands of the masses. Everyone wanted Jeong Jimin, the popular national asset to get the justice she deserved and nobody was happy roaming around the streets at night with a potential possibility of never returning home.

Jake knocked at the door of the butler's room.
'Yoonmin ssi?'
The door was promptly answered by Park Yoonmin. He bowed. 'Yes Jake nim. You're up early today. Should I get you something to eat?'
Jake shook his head.
'No, I just wanted to tell you that I'm leaving the house for some fresh air. I won't be back soon, so you don't have to ask the cook to prepare anything for me.' 'Why are you skipping breakfast, sir? You can eat and then leave,' the butler shrugged. He looked slightly tired too. His eyes looked heavy.
'It's fine, Yoonmin ssi, you look exhausted anyway,' he smiled. 'You should go get some rest.'

'Whatever you say, Jake nim,' Yoonmin bowed and retired back to his room.
Jake grabbed his car keys. He paused.

Actually, I guess it's better to walk to the station. It's just a half an hour walk. Some fresh air would do me good.

Jake wore a black cap.
Great.
Black cap, a bottle green mask and sunglasses. He was technically invisible. Unless someone saw him leave his house, they would obviously not be able to tell who he was.
Jake plugged in his earbuds and put his playlist on shuffle as he jogged to the police station. He allowed his mind to drift off to random stuff. He thought about the recent clothing commercial, about how his practical exam grades were probably at a point lower than Mariana Trench. He thought about how much better life had been as a school student and how he still hadn't gotten used to being a legal adult.

He stood outside the police station, panting a little. He walked in to face a rather tired Detective Ahn. His eye sockets were darkened and he was sipping coffee from a large mug. He saw Jake and nodded. He bowed. 'So,' he pulled the chair across him. 'Did you find anything, sir?,' he said.
The detective put the coffee mug down and sighed. He pressed his lips together and massaged his temples. 'Kind of, yeah.'

Jake narrowed his eyes.
What the hell does "kind of, yeah" mean? Is he allergic to getting straight to the point?

'What do you mean, sir?,' he furrowed his brows.
The detective sighed.
'We do have a profile, Jaeyun ssi. Left handed, male, around six feet tall, with considerable upper body strength,' he said.
'Okay?,' Jake nodded.
'But we don't have any suspects, Mr. Shim. We checked her call logs, the duration of each of her phone calls but we found nothing out of the ordinary.' Ahn stretched his arms and yawned. 'Without a suspect list, Jaeyun ssi, we're no longer chasing the killer, but creating one.'

Jake cocked one of his eyebrows. 'What?'
Ahn shook his head.
'Ever played "hot and cold" as a kid, Jaeyun ssi ?', his mouth curved a little.
'Of course. Everyone knows that game,' he shrugged.
'The suspects tell us if we're at a hotter place or a much colder one. The killer profile is what the object you're supposed to find looks like,' he said.
'Without knowing if you're close to figuring out who the killer is, or if you're far from the truth, finding the killer is like searching for a needle in a haystack, Mr. Shim,' he cracked his knuckles and stretched his neck.

'And I might sound cynical when I say this, but if a case is devoid of a suspects' list yet has the killer profile, it's possible that we might end up putting someone innocent behind the bars. Because you see, if the killer is clever enough not leave any trace behind, he is probably clever enough to throw everyone off track and make an innocent person pay for his crimes.'
'What are you implying?,' Jake said.
'The killer profile might be wrong. Just something to throw us off track,' he shrugged and took another sip from his mug.

Jake stared at him, dumbfounded. 'What?,' he spat.
'Are you telling me that you're search so far has been futile?,' he felt his voice raising in volume.
He got up from the chair, his hands curling into fists. 'Hey calm down, young man,' Ahn said carelessly and yawned. 'I only said it's a possibility. I didn't say this is what's going to happen,' he sighed.

'This case is big, Jaeyun ssi. You need to give us more time. You cannot barge in whenever you like and expect answers. Investigation takes time and effort, and we're all working hard,' he said in a low voice, boring his cold black eyes into Jake's warm and hurt dark brown ones.

'I got it. I'm sorry. I'll just leave now,' he nodded and headed towards the exit.

He decided to head to a nearby park instead of going home right away. He sat on the bench and wore his ear buds, scrolling through his playlist to determine which song he would play next.

Through his peripheral vision, he saw unmistakable silhouette of a girl in shoulder length ponytail. He looked up and saw her jogging on the pavement outlining the recreation ground from inside. She was laughing and chatting away as she walked. He looked at her intently and observed that she was wearing earbuds as well, and gathered that she might be talking to someone on the phone.

He walked in her direction and waved at her, smiling.
'Jung Mihee.'

Author's note
How's Mihee going to react? Jake is finally talking to her!

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