"Joonkyung!" a voice similar to Cap's echoed in the darkness.

I waited for the voice to call again, but it went silent... It must have been my head messing with me after days of sleep deprivation caused by the new case. Besides, it was also too early for Cap to be back here as he never came to work earlier than nine o'clock.

"Hey! Joonkyung!" It called again, louder and impatient this time.

I forced my eyes open and found myself flat on my stomach on my messy desk, peering through the blinding sunlight. But the office, again, was dead quiet. Only the tick-tocking of the old wall clock hanging high behind me hammered my ears.

I sighed, buried my face deeper into my arms as I let my eyes fall shut. Please let me get some more sleep.

"Yaaa!" Cap thundered suddenly, breaking the stillness of our humble office with the shrill of his light tenor voice.

I jolted backwards onto the chair, flushed with adrenaline. My blurred sight stared at a slender, black hooded figure in front of me.

"Y-ye-yess, Cap?" I blurted out.

"What time now, you punk?" He exploded, arms akimbo. His two big bloodshot eyes glared at me as my vision cleared up. "This isn't your freaking bedroom, young man!"

Although he was hot-headed, Cap rarely lashed out in the morning like this. He did get annoyed when I sometimes overslept after working the whole night, but it was never up to this level. The only possible explanation for this must be his wife back home. Because almost every time he came in a foul mood, it involved his wife, and today, since he had no other place to vent that anger, he just used me as his outlet; coupled with the fact that his breath already stank of nicotine and alcohol this early, there was no way I could be wrong about it.

"S-sorry, Cap... I'll go freshen up," I said as I sprung up, all at once, before tripping my own feet and plummeting back to the chair like an idiot.

Cap's sandy complexion slowly turned cherry. He squeezed his puffy eyes shut, sighing. A grim smile crossed his oval face.

Shit, I thought, he's going to kill me.

I shot to my feet again as if nothing had happened. Cap, interrupted by it, cast a murderous look on me with his mouth half-open, resentful for losing his last chance to share his wisdom.

I bowed my head, pretending not to see them, and just turned my back and sprinted towards the end of the building with relief washed over me.

In the restroom, after dragging myself to the nearest sink, I turned the faucet on and rested my forearms on the rim of the porcelain bowl to catch my breath. My head hung low between my shoulders.

When I was still in the force, running around like this right after waking up was never a big deal to me. It was a daily routine for us even, to be honest, and we also hardly slept during operations, most of the time; a couple of hours tops-if we were lucky. But today, I was not even chasing criminals, just running over a short distance in the same building, and my body was already half-dying. Does that mean I have passed my prime? Or am I just out of shape?

I splashed the water onto my face and grimaced as soon as the coldness numbed my skin. It was mid-December that day, the temperature had gone negative, and I forgot again that our building was not equipped with any water heater-not because we could not afford it, just that Cap was always against the idea, not sure why; Taehyun and I even offered to install one using our own money, but he still refused.

"Good morning, partner!" A clear, pleasant voice abruptly greeted me with a tap on my shoulder while I tried to feel my frozen hands and face.

"Hyung," I slurred.

I hastily wiped off the moisture on my face with my sleeve and turned to the man who now stood right beside me, smelling of soap and shaving cream.

Unlike our Cap, who appeared much like a grim reaper than the head of our agency earlier, Taehyun, like any other day, showed up clean and tidy in his casual winter outfit that he topped off with a light beige sherpa jacket. And despite him being only a few years older than Cap, he never once looked like a husband with two kids or a man in his mid-forties; he still looked as youthful as a freshman somehow and could even pass as my older brother if he wanted to.

"Asleep in front of Cap again today, I see?" he teased as he went to wash his hands on the other sink.

A faint blush crept on both sides of my cheeks as I nodded at his question. When I tried to hide it from him, he chuckled to himself and shook his head with a mischievous grin. He just knew me too well.

"Hyung, do you want me to bring you coffee?" I asked, tidying my tangled hair.

"No need, I just finished one." He rocked his wet hands with a steady rhythm on the basin to dry them. "You can try to ask your Cap. He seems like he needed one,"

"Hmm, okay," I said, walking to the entrance and leaning on the door frame to wait for him.

However, just as we were about to leave, Taehyun's phone began to ring. We met eyes for a second instinctively as he reached for the phone in his jeans pocket.

"Who is that desperate to call us this early?" I joked.

"No idea." He shook his head, looking down at the phone while his lean finger ran across the screen to pick up the unknown call and put it on speaker mode.

"Good morning, detective. Sorry for contacting you this early," greeted a gruff-sounding man. "I'm Officer Song, calling on behalf of the detective in charge."

"Yes, good morning, officer. How can we help?" Taehyun replied.

"There has been a quadruple homicide here in Sinchon-dong this morning. But it's... bizarre if I must describe it. I think this is our first time dealing with something like this, so we need your assistance here immediately if that is possible,"

"How unusual is it?" Taehyun asked back, sticking his knuckle to his chin.

"Well, first, we found the killer left three out of the four victims' bodies completely drained of all their blood. Second, there's a wound in their neck... a bite wound... but it was strange. It follows the pattern of common adult human teeth, but it was abnormal-"

"Again?" I whispered, looking at Taehyun, my eyes widening.

He stared back at me and shrugged. "Maybe,"

"Okay, officer. Send me the address. We will be on our way soon. See you there,"

"Alright, detective-" replied the officer before hanging up from his end.

"Hyung, do you think what I'm thinking?"

Taehyun shoved his phone back into the pocket and rubbed his smooth chin. "Yeah, I think. It seems like it has the same M.O. as the previous one,"

"Yeah, I think so too,"

"We need to let Cap know. Come on," said he, grabbing my arm, dragging me along.

But once we got out of the restroom, he let go of his hand and didn't even bother to check his back anymore. He just rushed back to our Cap's office by himself enthusiastically, leaving me to walk back to the office alone.

"Cap, we got a new case," informed Taehyun after I heard him knocking.

He waited there for a few seconds, but our Cap did not seem to respond. So, he knocked harder on the door again.

"Cap," he repeated, slightly raising his tone.

Until I arrived and went to my desk to clean up, there was still no feedback whatsoever from inside. Taehyun, feeling frustrated, shook his head and heaved a sigh before charging into Cap's office. Once the door was wide open, I peeked through the gap to see what he was doing, and apparently, he was busy reading the newspaper and sipping his morning coffee.

"What is it?" Cap asked shamelessly with a flat tone, his eyes glued to the paper.

"New case. The police just called me,"

Cap flipped his newspaper and took a sip from his mug. "Where?"

"Sinchon-dong,"

"What was it about this time?"

"Joon and I are thinking it may be related to the other case we are investigating right now,"

Cap put down the mug at once and peeked at Taehyun through his reading glasses. "The Yeouido one?"

"Yeah," Taehyun gave him a stiff nod.

"I see. Let us get going then," said Cap apathetically, folding the cluttered newspaper in his hands into two and throwing it on the desk.

He ran his slender fingers through his limp, charcoal black hair and rose to his feet, staggering a little as Taehyun left to collect the car key and his little notebook on his desk. Then, he took off his gold-framed glasses with a sigh and grabbed the padded jacket he had hung behind him.

For half an hour, we sat in the car in complete silence, thanks to Cap's foul mood. Not that he forbade us to chat, but it was more because of his bad vibes spoiling the air between us, though Taehyun and I still exchanged glances once in a while to check each other. The only time we ever spoke was after we exited the highway and entered an uphill road flanked with old-fashioned, dull four-stories apartments and houses.

Since the location was somewhat remote, we had to park the car on the main street and finish the journey on foot through a narrow alley to a convenience store at the nearby junction where we agreed to be the meeting point.

Two uniformed police officers had been waiting when we arrived; the one was a tall, fair young man with thin built and anxious coffee brown eyes. The other was a modest, stubby man with a slim nose and coarse grizzle hair. The latter was Officer Song, who called earlier, and the young rookie was Officer Lee.

"Thank you for coming, sir," said Officer Song, bending himself slightly as he shook hands with Cap and Taehyun. "it's a pleasure to meet you,"

As they chatted for a bit, I distracted myself by surveying the vicinity, and in one of the alleys there, which was uphill, a dozen outdoor broadcasting vans were parked lining up on one side, like a train.

"So, what happened here?" Cap tucked his hands deep into his jacket, his eyes surveying the surroundings. "Any new progress?"

"The house was cluttered when we got here, so we thought it was a robbery gone wrong at first. But after we searched the whole house, it turned out the culprit was just trying to mess with us."

"As for the victims, they were just an ordinary family with no special background; it's a family of three living with the husband's elderly mother," said Officer Song, rubbing his thick, messy brows. "And according to the neighbours, their relatives or even friends, the family is always known to be kind and friendly to anyone and never seen to get involved in any sort of big arguments before. So most likely, the culprit isn't coming from their circle."

"Also, of all four bodies, there's only one so far with signs of physical assault, which is the husband, and it's in a hot mess..." Officer Song continued, squinting at the note in his hand with a traumatic expression.

"In a hot mess?" Cap's eyebrows knitted together as if he misheard something.

"Yeah, fractured skull and at some other places: limbs, ribs, neck; it seemed like the man tried to confront the culprit, but he was just no match to them,"

"That's horrible, indeed," Taehyun sympathised.

"But the thing is, his state is closer to someone who gets run over by a heavy vehicle rather than those who died from any brutal fistfight,"

"What do you mean?" asked Taehyun.

"I could see his bones coming out of his flesh, literally. And the most surprising thing is that the killer did not use any specific tool to achieve that. Instead, all the forensics could find were faint hand-shaped bruises all over the victim's body,"

"So you're saying the killer did it with only his bare hands?" Taehyun raised both of his thin, patchy eyebrows in unison. "Is that even possible? Without a blunt weapon?"

"That's what the forensics told us so far; it does sound like a work of fiction, I agree, but as you know it, the evidence doesn't lie," Officer Song shrugged, looking all flustered himself.

"How about the witnesses?" asked Taehyun again, his hands still busy jotting down the details into his little notebook. "Has anyone seen the culprit entering or leaving the house?"

"None so far, sir. Since it happened around midnight, based on their time of death," replied the younger officer, his eyes kept moving back and forth between Cap, Taehyun, and me.

Officer Song scratched his sideburns with his pen. "But there's one of the neighbours that said she heard someone screaming for help,"

"Yet sadly, this neighbour also did not check on the family until this morning," he added in a mournful tone before taking a meaningful breath as he closed his notebook and returned it to the pocket on his neon vest.

"How about on the CCTV, officer?" I asked, pulling my cap down a little to cover my eyes.

Officer Lee shook his head slowly, his lips folded. "There was only a few CCTV in this whole area when we did the checking, and the culprit avoided them all, sir,"

"Was the crime scene squeaky clean, too? I mean, did the culprit leave anything behind? Like even a speck of dust will be good enough,"

"It's squeaky clean, so far," replied Officer Song, nodding his head. Then, he stopped for a second and looked at me with confusion. "But, if you don't mind me asking, how do you know that?"

"About that..." Taehyun interrupted, "we were suspecting the culprit behind this was the same as the one responsible for the murder at Yeouido not long ago,"

"Ohh, you think so, detective?" Officer Song tilted his head, his sagging eyes filled with curiosity all of a sudden.

"It's still just an assumption that we made based on the modus operandi alone, though, so could not be so sure yet until we go through everything,"

"I see. It does make sense. Although I don't know the full report on the Yeouido case yet, I have heard part of it, and it does seem similar," Officer Song nodded again, somehow ceasing the conversation for a moment.

Cap narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms in front of his chest, staring at the blanks. As his eyebrows drew into one, he brought one of his thumbs to his lips and began to bite on the nail again, as was his habit whenever he immersed himself in his thoughts.

When I stole a glance at Taehyun, he, too, was preoccupied; he was busy studying the notes he had written page by page and scribbling down his theories on top of it.

"Excuse me, officer, do you mind showing us where the house is?" I said, breaking the silence.

"That one. On the top of the hill," Officer Song pointed his finger, and all of our eyes followed it to a red-bricked two-storey house about two minutes away from us.

"Is this the only path that could get us there, or is there another way?" I jerked my head to the congested alley.

"Well, you could say so..." he sounded somewhat indecisive. "However, there is another path that maybe you could take. It's an extreme one since you need to climb through the dark, steep woods behind there and might get lost. So I highly doubt any sane human would want to risk their life by taking that path just to get to the house,"

"I see. Thank you, Officer. "

"Then, shall we go?" said Taehyun, glancing at Cap.

Cap, still distracted, did not take the bait. It was not until I waved in his face that he turned to us with a flinch. "Yeah, sure. Go ahead."

"Okay. Be right back,"

Cap gave Taehyun a quick nod, and after thanking the officers, Taehyun gestured to me with his hand to come with him; I bid farewell to Cap and the officers, excusing myself, and we both left right away.

"Hyung," I said, half-whispering when we were halfway through.

"Hm?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"It is not case related, though," I clarified.

"Yeah, it is fine. Just ask anyway,"

"Well, I have been wondering... what made you join the force and become a detective for the violent crime unit?"

Taehyun looked up to the clear blue sky and hummed with one corner of his lips lifted gently. His sharp gaze softened over time as he reminisced.

"I don't have a specific reason, to be honest," he crossed his arms. "Maybe because I wanted to help people?"

"Woah, really?" I looked at him in awe. "But I think I did see that when we worked together for the first time,"

Taehyun could not help himself and burst into a howling laugh upon hearing the compliment. All of his age-related fine lines also became more prominent than ever.

"But well, you know me. I'm not the ambitious type. It was just that I got promoted after doing a great job back when I was still an officer, so it was more of a coincidence,"

I bopped my head, taking in his words. "If only there were more people like Hyung in this world, it would have been a much better place,"

"But how about you?" he asked back all of a sudden. "Besides cracking your mom's murders, of course,"

I froze, my eyes flickering nervously as my mind went blank.

"Wait, you don't?" His tone went up, his pupil dilated.

"Uhm... my other reason... maybe just to know more people," I stammered, my cheeks warming up.

"Why? Shouldn't you have a lot of friends, especially around your age?" He raised one of his eyebrows as he glanced, his voice softening.

"I don't... have that many friends," I said, almost whispering.

"Really? But why?"

"I just... I am not good at making friends," I murmured, looking down to my feet.

"That is very sad to hear." He came closer and embraced me. "But it's okay. You still have me. Isn't that better than just a friend?"

"Thank you, Hyung. That means a lot to me," I replied humbly with a smile.

"If you ever have hard times but have no one to talk to, you could always come to me. Or Cap. We will be there with you," he assured. "I'll try my best to keep that promise,"

I nodded like an innocent child as I stared into his fatherly, warm gaze and smiled a restrained smile, despite feeling grateful inside.

As we neared the house, the street got busier. It was close to chaos even, with half of the reporters swarming the police line to get the best headline shot while the rest were scattered on the narrow street, puffing their cigarettes since they knew it was pointless to compete with those early birds.

I lowered my head and hunched my shoulders as I walked past them. My heart raced. Although the chance of them recognising me was slim now after being presumed dead for more than a year, I still could not get used to it—maybe I never will after they did in the past.

"Are you ready?" asked Taehyun right to my ear, worried I might not hear him well because of the commotion.

I turned to him and nodded after our eyes met; he stared back at me for a moment and nodded too.

With his lead, we shouldered through the tenacious crowd to the police line, and as soon as the detectives recognised Taehyun, he cued one of the officers to let us in.

The house was neither small nor big. It had a similarly dated exterior to the others, but its front yard, which was filled with a scattered eruption of sickly plants and traversed by a narrow walkway made of white pebbles, was the most spacious compared to those on the same street.

Another detective, who looked around the same age as Taehyun, stood near that walkway. The tall, dapper man kept a luxury watch on his thick wrist and donned a fancy black leather jacket that anyone in the force with his level could barely afford, even with all their pension. But instead of doing his job, he blatantly tried to control the forensic team that was at the right corner of the yard on which evidence they should document and not.

He kept yelling at them like a mad man even though they ignored him and were exasperated. None of his colleagues even came forward to stop him; they just stood at the back, shaking their heads in shame.

"Kim Chul-beom?" asked Taehyun, and the suave-haired, alert sergeant turned with a fierce look at us. He raised one of his hard-angled eyebrows sardonically as he scanned me from head to toe while I dipped my head down to greet him.

"Jo Taehyun, what are you doing here?" he asked in a bitter tone, crossing his arms after glowering at Taehyun for a moment.

"I—we are called in to help this investigation,"

"I don't think we need any help from an outsider here. Everything is under control. It's just going to be a waste of your precious time if you insist to help,"

"Well, I guess we'll decide once we meet your boss," said Taehyun, relaxed.

"Suit yourself," Chul-beom snorted derisively before turning his back against us to bother the forensic officers again.

Rather pleased with it, Taehyun smirked as he glanced at me. He was about to say something after that, but someone interrupted us.

"Taehyun-a," a man called from the door of the house, who then rushed down the short front steps and wrung Taehyun's hand with high spirits.

"Hojun Hyung! How are you? It's been a while," Taehyun greeted, bowing deep from his waist rather than his head to the compact, light tan-faced, middle-aged man with short, side-parted hair and a black rounded eye-glass.

The man could not hide how pleased he was. He was smiling so broadly at Taehyun until all his neat, even teeth were exposed while they shook hands, and he even stroked Taehyun's back for quite a while before turning to me.

He looked straight into my eyes as he seized both of my hands. As I stared back at those smiling, thin almond eyes, I could feel the same sense of uprightness and resoluteness that filled Taehyun's eyes from him, complemented by his long neck and straight nose between his high light-freckled cheekbones; he looked exceptionally dazzling for a detective.

"Who is this? That partner of yours? He is much younger than I thought!" he said, shaking my hand energetically.

"Nice to meet you, Mr Hojun. My name is Joonkyung," I bowed from my waist and he patted my back too with his free hand like I was his old friend.

"Pleased to meet you in person too. I have heard a lot of good things about you," He squeezed my shoulders with another big smile on his face. "But before we speak further, let's not waste our time standing out here."

"Come with me," he turned towards the house immediately.

"I believe you have heard from our Officer Song, correct?" he said again, turning his head back as we marched into the house.

"Yeah, pretty much," Taehyun responded, peeking at his notebook.

"Great, I can just fill you in a bit more later, if you need it,"

After he went past the door, Mr Hojun stopped abruptly to turn his head. He squinted as he shot a look past our shoulders, and his eyebrows became furrowed. Confused by it, Taehyun and I also spun our heads around to check, and we found him observing Sergeant Kim Chul-beom, who was still impeding those poor officers.

"I don't know what to do with him anymore, to be honest," Mr Hojun whispered, shaking his head. "He always does whatever he wants, and I could not stop him; he would never listen to me even though I'm both his senior and captain,"

"But even our Chief back then could not handle him," Taehyun chimed in and patted Mr Hojun on the back.