A Radish Odyssey (MAMAMOO AU)

Phase One : Full Moon

He panicked and rocked the baby in his arms in attempt to calm her down, while Yong is still thinking of a name, they witness a shooting star flashing before their eyes and that's when it occurred to Yong.

"I know! Byul!" she exclaimed, and the baby responded with a laugh that could make any hearts melt at the sight of it, "There's one star, one moon, let's name you... MoonByul!"

Coincidentally, the baby's laugh sounded, "HeeHee," to which the head monk confirmed, "Okay, from today, you shall be named Moon Byul Yi." Byulyi had a satisfactory smile as she returned back to her peaceful sleep in Ajahn's arm. He looked relieved at her blissful state and reaches out the other hand for Yong to hold, "Shall we head back now, Yong?"

(Present Day – 2022)

"...Yong."

"...geant Yong..."

"SERGEANT KIM! YONG! SUN!"

I jolted up from my seat, surveying my surrounding in a hurry – glaring eyes from my supervisors, mocking eyes from my juniors.

"Does a billion-dollar case sound like a lullaby to you, sergeant?" said the unimpressed Commander Cha Seung-Won who is briefing a case behind the podium, to which I replied, "No, sir. I'm sorry." While bowing profusely.

After briefly clearing his throat, he resumed his reprimand, dismissing the fact that I am about to be humiliated in front of everyone, "I heard you're appointed sergeant recently, do you think I couldn't demote you?"

"Now, now. Don't be too harsh on our heroine. After all, she had successfully closed a 10-year-old cold case. The same case that you couldn't resolve even after you are appointed Commander. Plus, she's been working tirelessly over weeks of sleepless nights." Of course, there is also my uncle Jae-Wook who would always defend me in this kind of situation.

"You can't be soft on her just because she's your family member, Superintendent Kim. If I let her off with leniency like this, what would other people say about me? Commander who is afraid to reprimand just because she's the niece of his superior."

Uncle Jae simply shrugged his shoulder as if to say, 'Do I look like I care?'. The petty Commander Cha doesn't seem like he's willing to let this slide and the case briefing is not making any progress at all.

Fortunately, Lieutenant Hae-In, everyone's favourite sunbaenim stood up to control the situation with attempt to subdue Commander Cha's temper, "I'm sorry, Commander. I'll make sure she receives proper discipline later." said Hae-In sunbae with a bow, "I'm certain everyone here agrees you're the best Commander who uphold fairness and justice... I'd like to believe you are willing to look past this matter, since It'll be a shame to waste such talent on issuing parking ticket or patrol the peaceful streets... We need her here."

Commander Cha looked around the room and I was relieved to see many supporters surround me by nodding in agreement of his speech. He heaved a sigh of resignation, a good indication that his anger was subsided, "Fine... Since you couldn't care less about this case enough to doze off, why don't you take this case, sergeant? Solve this case and I'd turn a blind eye on what happened earlier." The Commander may seem to "offer" me, but we all know too well it's clearly a do-or-die situation.

Without much hesitation I agreed, "Thank you, sir! You won't regret this." I took a seat with a huge exhale from all that breath that I've been holding in. Hae-In sunbae took a seat next to me and pat me on the shoulder with a charming smile, equally relieved that I get to keep my position.

Commander Cha finally moved forward with the briefing, while Hae-In sunbae patiently walked me through by whispering to me on what I've missed. Flipping through the pages, I was astonished at the overview of this case – it's not as simple as it sounds.

As I arrive at the page with details on the suspect, I cut off the unamused Commander's briefing again by springing back up from my seat, "Commander, I can't take on this case."

He slammed the file loudly while raising one of his eyebrows, "What now? Why the hell not?"

"Because it's a conflict-" I tried to complete my sentence, but he wouldn't stand down.

"Oi... Kim Yong Sun, do you honestly think you can pick and choose whatever case you like? Where do you think you are? Fish market?" and there goes his short-tempered speech. There is just no stopping his bullet-train speech when he gets angry, "Actually, on a second thought, save your explanation. I'm doing what you did to me earlier – I couldn't care less! As the commander, I command you to take on this case, are we clear, sergeant?"

I bit my lower lips briefly before I gave him a firm reply, "Sir! YES, SIR!" I stared at the case file that has the picture of the suspect and clenched my fist, thinking to myself, 'Damn it! This is clearly a conflict of interest, why does it have to be you?! Moon Byul Yi!'

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(End of Phase One)

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