NETIZEN

OCR: OPTICAL CHARACTER RECOGNITION

A few seconds later, Soo Yeon's outcries made Jun Ho realize what he was doing, letting her go as he regained his composure.

During a split second, the man and the woman glared at each other like a lion and a tiger waiting to see the other's next move.

Soo Yeon didn't give him time to ask more questions; she dashed out the door where her car awaited. Jun Ho followed, but she was quick to climb in the car, which drove off as if it had been ready for a getaway.

Jun Ho didn't know what to think; something was missing in the puzzle forming in his mind.

Soo Yeon heaved, she opened her bag and grabbed her inhaler. The asthma attack, which stalked her since Su Jung revealed his feelings, finally occurred. She took a few gulps as she tried to regain a regular heart rate.

"Agassi, should we stop somewhere?"

"No,—drive —" Soo Yeon said between two breaths as she took another gulp of air from her inhaler.

The girl was surprised at her capacity to keep calm in front of the menace Jun Ho represented.

Looking at her hands, she felt grateful to have had her beauty spots removed. Hye Mi had two in each palm and a huge one on her left wrists; younger Jun Ho called her hands the constellations.

Why was he there?

Had he come to visit them?

Impossible; why would he do such a thing? Soo Yeon thought while watching the landscape of Seoul drawing nearer.

Jun Ho wasn't even there when the Inquisition against the Seos began. The Kang family cut ties with them as soon as everything blew up.

Why would their son pay his respects to them? It made no sense. Could he have come to catch her? This scenario seemed possible; he still suspected her.

Then why look at her wrists as if he was searching for Seo Hye Mi?

Soo Yeon understood why he was a cop; the man possessed a good memory. Jun Ho remembered a detail almost fifteen years old. This talent of his didn't reassure Soo Yeon, who recognized the inspector had enough flare to figure everything out; she prayed it wouldn't be too soon.

Seoul, Hannam-Dong

"Where were you asked?" Kang Baek Hyun asked as he watched Jun Ho enter the living room.

"To the crematorium to visit the Seos," Jun Ho replied.

The man's words made his father purse his lips and furrowed his eyebrows.

"Kuré, good," Baek Hyun replied with a face reflecting the opposite. The inspector didn't miss his father's facial reaction.

"When was the last time you went, abeoji?" Jun Ho asked.

"Oh, I don't remember, I have a lot of work," Baek Hyun replied, attempting a smile that resembled the twitch Samantha in Bewitched used to do to cast a spell.

"Really, too busy to visit your best friend and family who perished tragically?" Jun Ho asked.

"JUN HO," Baek Hyun yelled before lowering his tone to speak in a more poised manner, "Listen, Jun Ho, you won't there, don't judge. Why the sudden interest in the Seos they were just—"

The man hesitated.

"Just what, abeoji?" Jun Ho insisted, despite the respect he had for his father, there were things concerning the man's behavior that left Jun Ho speechless. In constant conflict, the two men avoided each other as much as possible in public.

Unfortunately, like most single Koreans from a traditional Korean family, Jung Ho still lived with his parents. There was no way to avoid Kang Baek Hyun, who tried to convert his son's opinion regularly at home.

Jun Ho's mother entered the living room, where a familiar scene where she would play the role of the bumper welcomed her.

"What's the fuss about this time?" Chae Su Jin said, switching her gaze from her son to her husband.

"Nothing," Jun Ho said, taking three steps to kiss the woman on the cheek before going to his room.

Baek Hyun watched his son leave both angry and proud. Kang Jun Ho had a personality this pleased Baek Hyun. The senator hoped time and a good marriage would change his son's behavior giving him new life goals. Jun Ho was one of those rebels who believed he could change hundreds of years of traditions with his will; it was both admirable and foolish. There would be a moment when Baek Hyun would give him a lesson for no he let him be.

Something was wrong; Jun Ho didn't know what yet, but his intuition told him there was more to the Seo's death than everyone made it seem.

There was also Park Soo Yeon always there like smoke where there is fire.

What was this girl's connection with the deceased family?

When Jun Ho asked at the crematorium if she came often, the keeper answered she had better things to do than follow the ins and outs of people crying their loved ones. Even the cameras only filmed the halls, and if there wasn't anything to report, they erased the videos. There was no way for him to discover if Park Soo Yeon regularly visited the Seos.

Jun Ho could have sworn the girl was Seo Hye Mi at first, but Park Soo Yeon was too different. Too cold like her hands, which held the same warmth as a snake. The memory of her facial expression and her cold wrists made the man shudder.

Plastic surgery? Impossible, Jun Ho thought. Jun Ho encountered enough of Gangnam's plastic beauties to recognize a retouched face.

Could see be a distant relative? Nothing in her file showed a connection between Park Soo Yeon and the Seos.

Jun Ho needed their files, and his father's attitude proved that he would not lend Jun Ho a hand even if he begged him.

Who else had the influence necessary to give him access to those files?

Jun Ho knew some people from the prosecutor's office, but they would probably transmit his inquiries to his father. To this day, citizens cursed the Seos when evoked; even in his profession, people shook their heads in disapproval. Jun Ho didn't want to be confronted with that, not knowing what reaction he would have to hear who he considered like family being insulted.

The answer Jun Ho searched for came with the ring tone of his phone.

Caller:

HONG KWON JIN

2en1-Missing you

안녕하세요,

I felt sad for Soo Yeon; she is inflicting herself an awful lot of mental torture.

Jun Ho is nosy, I know, but he's a cop. He has to live it up.

Please refer to the first character inspirations chapter if you don't remember who Hong Kwon Jin is.

Music: Track 1 Taeyang's Darling and Track 2 2en1's missing you. No, I'm not paid or sponsored by YG Entertainment.

Thank you for reading.